polarity Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a relation between two opposite attributes or tendencies
mutual opposition.
- he viewed it as a balanced polarity between good and evil
noun having an indicated pole (as the distinction between positive and negative electric charges)
sign.
- he got the polarity of the battery reversed
- charges of opposite sign

Cf. F. polarité.

(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.
(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.