vector

Learned borrowing from Latin vector (“carrier, transporter”), from vehō (“to carry, transport, bear”), also ultimately the root of English vehicle.

The “person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme” sense derives from the disease sense.

The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.

• Hyphenation: vec‧tor
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛktə/
• (US) enPR: vĕk'tər, IPA^(key): /ˈvɛktɚ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)

vector (plural vectors)

2. (mathematics, physics) A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.

   Coordinate term: rotor

   Hypernym: tensor

   Velocity is a vector defined by the speed of an object and its direction.

   • 1914, The New Student's Reference Work:

     As examples of vector quantities may be mentioned the distance between any two given points, a velocity, a force, an acceleration, angular velocity, intensity of magnetization flux of heat.

   1. (mathematics) Any member of a (generalized) vector space.

      The vectors in ${\displaystyle {\mathbb {Q} }[X]}$ are the single-variable polynomials with rational coefficients: one is ${\displaystyle \textstyle x^{42}+{\frac {1}{137}}x-1}$.

   2. (mathematics, computing) An ordered tuple, originally one representing a directed quantity, but by extension any one-dimensional matrix.

      Hypernym: matrix

      Computers store many types of data as vectors for ease of processing.

      • 2003 February 26, Julio Sanchez, Maria P. Canton, The PC Graphics Handbook, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 62:

        A row vector is a matrix whose M dimension is 1. In fact, a row vector is a matrix consisting of a single row, and a column vector a matrix consisting of a single column.

      • 2011 March 8, Lee Lanier, Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 97:

        Color is stored as a vector attribute (R, G, B).

      • 2022 February 9, Gerassimos Barlas, Multicore and GPU Programming: An Integrated Approach, Morgan Kaufmann, →ISBN, page 398:

        GPU cores are essentially vector-processing units, capable of applying the same instruction on a large collection of operands.

   3. (aviation) A chosen course or direction for motion, as of an aircraft.
      • 2017, Mark Chambers, Tony Holmes, Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units, page 32:

        I was told to fly out on a vector of 100 degrees to meet a strong plot of aircraft 30 miles from the coast.

3. (programming) A kind of dynamically resizable array.
   • 2004, Jesse Liberty, Bradley L. Jones, Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, page 694:

     To create a vector of students in a class, you will want the vector to be large enough […]

   1. (computing, operating systems) A memory address containing the address of a code entry point, usually one which is part of a table and often one that is dereferenced and jumped to during the execution of an interrupt.
   2. (computer graphics, attributive) A graphical representation using outlines; vector graphics.

      Coordinate term: raster

      a vector image, vector graphics

5. (epidemiology) A carrier of a disease-causing agent.
   1. (molecular biology) A DNA molecule used to carry genetic information from one organism into another.
   2. (sociology) A person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme.
      • 2020 October 12, Andrew Marantz, “Why Facebook Can’t Fix Itself”, in The New Yorker‎^[1]:

        These days, their primary job is to insist that Facebook is a fun place to share baby photos and sell old couches, not a vector for hate speech, misinformation, and violent extremist propaganda.

   3. (psychology) A recurring psychosocial issue that stimulates growth and development in the personality. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
6. (history) Forces, developments, phenomena, processes, systems, etc. which influence the trajectory of history (e.g. imperialism)

vector (third-person singular simple present vectors, present participle vectoring, simple past and past participle vectored)

1. To set (particularly an aircraft) on a course toward a selected point.
   • 1994, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Tendencies:

     […] if love is vectored toward an object and Elinor's here flies toward Marianne, Marianne's in turn toward Willoughby.

2. (computing) To redirect to a vector, or code entry point.

• thrust vectoring

• The New Oxford Dictionary of English

• Covert, corvet, covert

Learned borrowing from Latin vectōrem.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bəkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [vəkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [vekˈtoɾ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

vector m (plural vectors)

1. vector

• pseudovector
• vectorial

• “vector”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Learned borrowing from Latin vector.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛk.tɔr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vec‧tor
• Rhymes: -ɛktɔr

vector m (plural vectoren, diminutive vectortje n)

1. (mathematics) vector, an element of a vector space

Learned borrowing from Latin vector.

• IPA^(key): /ˌbetˈtoɾ/ [ˌbet̪ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ

vector m (plural vectores)

1. vector

From vehō (“carry, bear, convey; ride”) + -tor.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈwɛk.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈvɛk.tor]

vector m (genitive vectōris, feminine vectrīx); third declension

1. bearer, carrier
2. passenger
3. (mathematics, physics) vector

Third-declension noun.

• vectīgal

vector

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of vectō

• “vector”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vector”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • passengers: vectores (Phil. 7. 9. 27)
    

vector m (plural vectores)

1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of vetor; still used where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and may occur as a sporadic misspelling

• “vector”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “vector”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French vecteur, Latin vector.

vector m (plural vectori)

1. vector

Learned borrowing from Latin vector.

• IPA^(key): /beɡˈtoɾ/ [beɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: vec‧tor

vector m (plural vectores)

1. vector

• “vector”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025