If something is transverse it goes sideways or at an angle. You might take a transverse path cutting across the park — it's a short cut if you're in a hurry, because you don't have to walk the entire length.
First used in the 1590s, the adjective transverse comes from the Latin word transvertere, which combines the prefix trans-, meaning "across," and vertere, meaning "to turn." Something that's transverse cuts across something. A doctor may make a transverse incision into a patient's abdomen during an appendectomy. Set between two buildings, a dark alley is transverse to the bustling city street.
