y-axis

noun

y-ax·​is ˈwī-ˌak-səs 

1

: the axis of a plane Cartesian coordinate system parallel to which ordinates are measured

2

: one of the three axes in a three-dimensional rectangular coordinate system

Examples of y-axis in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Complex numbers can be plotted on a plane, with the real part on the x-axis and the imaginary part on the y-axis. —Jordana Cepelewicz, WIRED, 4 Aug. 2024

So the y-axis is more stable, as the shift toward females in the labor market is balanced by a higher proportion going to university. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 5 Sep. 2010

Both plots were sourced from the same dataset and should thus be identical—but the plot in one paper has a y-axis with a scale that is about 7,000 times larger than the other. —Dan Garisto, Scientific American, 27 July 2023

The y-axis shows the speedup for Codon implementations over CPython implementations. —IEEE Spectrum, 30 Mar. 2023

Fewer births means the percentage of the population of working age (15-64), represented here in the y-axis, climbs upward toward the rough threshold of the 65 percent necessary to potentially reap the economic benefits of the demographic dividend. —National Geographic, 21 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1875, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

y-axis

noun

y-ax·​is

ˈwī-ˌak-səs

: the vertical axis in a plane coordinate system along which or parallel to which ordinates are measured compare x-axis