n.
Pronunciation: ' vek-t ə r
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin, carrier, from vehere to carry ― more at WAY
Date: 1846
1 a : a quantity that has magnitude and direction and that is commonly represented by a directed line segment whose length represents the magnitude and whose orientation in space represents the direction broadly : an element of a vector space b : a course or compass direction especially of an airplane
2 a : an organism (as an insect) that transmits a pathogen b : POLLINATOR A
3 : an agent (as a plasmid or virus) that contains or carries modified genetic material (as recombinant DNA) and can be used to introduce exogenous genes into the genome of an organism
– vector adjective
– vec · to · ri · al \ vek- ' to ̇ r- ē - ə l \ adjective
– vec · to · ri · al · ly \ - ə -l ē \ adverb