''vector'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260708194133-00-⌔

vector - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

vector (plural vectors)

• (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.
  • ✤ 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 $\mathbb{Q}[X]$ are the single-variable polynomials with rational coefficients: one is $x^{42}+\frac{1}{137}x-1$.
  • (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.
    • ✤ 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.²
    • ✤ Color is stored as a vector attribute (R, G, B).³
    • ✤ GPU cores are essentially vector -processing units, capable of applying the same instruction on a large collection of operands.⁴
  • (aviation) A chosen course or direction for motion, as of an aircraft.
    • ✤ I was told to fly out on a vector of 100 degrees to meet a strong plot of aircraft 30 miles from the coast.⁵
• (programming) A kind of dynamically resizable array.
  • ✤ To create a vector of students in a class, you will want the vector to be large enough […]⁶
  • (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.
  • (computer graphics, attributive) A graphical representation using outlines; vector graphics.
    • ✤ Coordinate term: raster
    • ✤ a vector image, vector graphics
• (epidemiology) A carrier of a disease -causing agent.
  • (molecular biology) A DNA molecule used to carry genetic information from one organism into another.
  • (sociology) A person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme.
    • ✤ 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.⁷
  • (psychology) A recurring psychosocial issue that stimulates growth and development in the personality.
• (history) Forces, developments, phenomena, processes, systems, etc. which influence the trajectory of history (e.g. imperialism)

Verb

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

• To set (particularly an aircraft) on a course toward a selected point.
  • ✤ […] if love is vectored toward an object and Elinor’s here flies toward Marianne, Marianne’s in turn toward Willoughby.⁸
• (computing) To redirect to a vector, or code entry point.

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: vec‧tor
• (UK) IPA: /ˈvɛktə/
• (US) enPR: vĕk’tər, IPA: /ˈvɛktɚ/
• Audio (US): 🔊
• Audio (Australian): 🔊
• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)

Printed 2026-07-08.

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Footnotes

1. 1914, The New Student’s Reference Work: ↩

2. 2003 February 26, Julio Sanchez, Maria P. Canton, The PC Graphics Handbook, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 62: ↩

3. 2011 March 8, Lee Lanier, Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 97: ↩

4. 2022 February 9, Gerassimos Barlas, Multicore and GPU Programming: An Integrated Approach, Morgan Kaufmann, →ISBN, page 398: ↩

5. 2017, Mark Chambers, Tony Holmes, Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units, page 32: ↩

6. 2004, Jesse Liberty, Bradley L. Jones, Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, page 694: ↩

7. 2020 October 12, Andrew Marantz, “Why Facebook Can’t Fix Itself”, in The New Yorker ‎${}^{[1]}$: ↩

8. 1994, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Tendencies: ↩