asymptote

From Apollonius Pergaeus's Ancient Greek term ἀσύμπτωτος (asúmptōtos, “not falling together”), from ἀ (a, “not”) + σύν (sún, “together”) + πτωτός (ptōtós, “fallen”).

asymptote (plural asymptotes)

1. (mathematical analysis) A straight line which a curve approaches arbitrarily closely, as they go to infinity. The limit of the curve, its tangent "at infinity".
2. (by extension, figuratively) Anything which comes near to but never meets something else.
   • 1860: Frederic William Farrar, An Essay on the Origin of Language, page 117

     Language, in relation to thought, must ever be regarded as an asymptote.

asymptote (third-person singular simple present asymptotes, present participle asymptoting, simple past and past participle asymptoted)

1. (mathematical analysis) To approach, but never quite touch, a straight line, as something goes to infinity.
   • 2006: Neil deGrasse Tyson, The Perimeter of Ignorance[1]

     As you become more scientific, yes, the religiosity drops off, but it asymptotes.

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀσύμπτωτος (asúmptōtos).

• IPA^(key): /a.zɛ̃p.tɔt/

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asymptote f (plural asymptotes)

1. (mathematical analysis) asymptote

• asymptotique

• “asymptote” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).