Definition of "oblique" []

• Having a slanting or sloping direction, course, or position; inclined. (adjective)
• Mathematics Designating geometric lines or planes that are neither parallel nor perpendicular. (adjective)
• Botany Having sides of unequal length or form: an oblique leaf. (adjective)
• Anatomy Situated in a slanting position; not transverse or longitudinal: oblique muscles or ligaments. (adjective)
• Indirect or evasive: oblique political maneuvers. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Anytime you see a sign like that, you see this fracture, what we call an oblique fracture so it kind of spirals up, we know that he had some unbelievable force at his ankle that transmitted up through his fibula and fractured it."
• "The MRI doesn't show anything significant, but I learned a long time ago, when the word 'oblique' is mentioned, I get nervous."
• "This led to what Mr. Burnett described — in oblique terms — as a true life-threatening event."