erisuuntaista

Erisuuntaista is a Finnish adjective form meaning “in several directions” or “multidirectional.” It is the partitive singular form of erisuuntainen, which describes something that has multiple directions or proceeds in more than one direction. The word is built from eri- (“different”) + suunta (“direction”) with the adjectival suffix -inen. In standard Finnish, erisuuntaista is used before a noun in the partitive case, for example erisuuntaista liikettä (movement in several directions) or erisuuntaista säteilyä (multidirectional radiation).

The term is common in technical and scientific language, where phenomena may lack a single preferred direction. It can describe physical phenomena such as erisuuntaista virtausta or erisuuntaista säteilyä, as well as more figurative usages like erisuuntaista ajattelua or erisuuntaista suunnittelua, indicating variety or dispersion across multiple directions.

Compared terms include erisuuntainen, the base form meaning multidirectional in a general sense, and yksisuuntainen, meaning one-directional. The prefix eri- emphasizes variety or distinction, while suunta refers to direction. In Finnish, erisuuntaista serves to specify directional diversity in both descriptive and technical contexts.

See also: erisuuntainen, suunta, eri- prefix, yksisuuntainen, monisuuntaisuus.