Polarity

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Polarity \Po*lar"i*ty\, n. [Cf. F. polarit['e].]
     1. (Physics) That quality or condition of a body in virtue of
        which it exhibits opposite, or contrasted, properties or
        powers, in opposite, or contrasted, parts or directions;
        or a condition giving rise to a contrast of properties
        corresponding to a contrast of positions, as, for example,


        attraction and repulsion in the opposite parts of a
        magnet, the dissimilar phenomena corresponding to the
        different sides of a polarized ray of light, etc.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Geom.) A property of the conic sections by virtue of
        which a given point determines a corresponding right line
        and a given right line determines a corresponding point.
        See {Polar}, n.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  polarity
       n 1: a relation between two opposite attributes or tendencies;
            "he viewed it as a balanced polarity between good and
            evil" [syn: {mutual opposition}]
       2: having an indicated pole (as the distinction between
          positive and negative electric charges); "he got the
          polarity of the battery reversed"; "charges of opposite
          sign" [syn: {sign}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  91 Moby Thesaurus words for "polarity":
     Janus, N pole, S pole, ambiguity, ambivalence, antagonism,
     anteposition, antipathy, antithesis, balance, biformity,
     bifurcation, bilateral symmetry, clashing, collision, conflict,
     conformity, confrontation, confrontment, congruity, conjugation,
     consistency, contention, contradiction, contradistinction,
     contraindication, contraposition, contrariety, contrast,
     correspondence, counterposition, cross-purposes, dichotomy,
     disagreement, discrepancy, doubleness, doublethink, doubling,
     dualism, duality, duplexity, duplication, duplicity,
     dynamic symmetry, equality, equilibrium, equivocality, eurythmics,
     eurythmy, evenness, finish, halving, harmony, hostility,
     inconsistency, inimicalness, irony, keeping, magnetic axis,
     magnetic pole, multilateral symmetry, negative pole, north pole,
     opposing, oppositeness, opposition, opposure, oppugnance,
     oppugnancy, pairing, parallelism, perversity, polar opposition,
     polarization, pole, posing against, positive pole, proportion,
     proportionality, regularity, repugnance, shapeliness, showdown,
     south pole, symmetricalness, symmetry, trilateral symmetry,
     twinning, two-facedness, twoness, uniformity