o·blique / əˈblēk; ōˈblēk/ • adj. 1. neither parallel nor at a right angle to a specified or implied line; slanting: we sat on the settee oblique to the fireplace. ∎  not explicit or direct in addressing a point: he issued an oblique attack on the president. ∎  Geom. (of a line, plane figure, or surface) inclined at other than a right angle. ∎  Geom. (of an angle) acute or obtuse. ∎  Geom. (of a cone, cylinder, etc.) with an axis not perpendicular to the plane of its base. ∎  Anat. (esp. of a muscle) neither parallel nor perpendicular to the long axis of a body or limb.2. Gram. denoting any case other than the nominative or vocative.• n. 1. a muscle neither parallel nor perpendicular to the long axis of a body or limb.2. Brit. another term for slash¹ (sense 2).DERIVATIVES: o·blique·ly adv.o·blique·ness n.o·bliq·ui·ty / əˈblikwətē/ n.

OBLIQUE, also diagonal, oblique dash, oblique stroke, slash, solidus, virgule. The PUNCTUATION MARK (/), a forward-sloping line used in writing and printing. The device has six main uses: (1) To indicate vulgar fractions (23/24 for twenty-three twenty fourths) and ratios (miles/hour for miles per hour). (2) As part of certain abbreviations and related symbols, such as c/o care of, i/c in charge, and the percentage sign %. (3) To mark the ends of lines of poetry when set in a prose text (as in Tyger Tyger, burning bright / In the forests of the night). (4) To unite alternatives as in and/or, colour/color, his/her, and s/he (for ‘she or he’). (5) To indicate routes, as in London/New York/San Francisco. (6) In PHONETICS, to mark off phonemic transcription, as in /wik/, denoting the pronunciation of the words week and weak. The reverse oblique (\), is known as a back-slash.

oblique having a slanting or sloping direction XV; (gram.) XVI. — (O)F. — L. oblīquus, f. OB- + obscure el.
So obliquity divergence from moral rectitude XV; oblique direction XVI.