Tan*gen"tial (?), a. Geom.
Of or pertaining to a tangent; in the direction of a tangent.
Tangential force Mech., a force which acts on a moving body in the direction of a tangent to the path of the body, its effect being to increase or diminish the velocity; -- distinguished from a normal force, which acts at right angles to the tangent and changes the direction of the motion without changing the velocity. -- Tangential stress. Engin. See Shear, n., 3.
© Webster 1913.