viivamaisessa

Viivamaisessa is a Finnish inessive form of the adjective viivamainen, meaning line-like or dash-like. The form is used to describe something that has a line-based or striped quality, such as a drawing, pattern, or style that emphasizes lines rather than filled areas. It is not a distinct technical term, but a grammatical description found in descriptive texts.

The root is viiva, line, combined with the suffix -mainen, which yields viivamainen ("line-like"). In Finnish, adjectives inflect for case, so the inessive singular is viivamaisessa, used to mean "in a line-like form" or "in a line-like manner." Typical collocations include viivamaisessa piirroksessa ("in a line-like drawing") and viivamaisessa typografiassa ("in a line-based typography").

Usage and scope: The expression appears in art criticism, design documentation, and discussions of visual textures where linear elements predominate. It conveys a sense of order, precision, or minimalism associated with outlines, hatch marks, or other linear patterns. While not every context will require it, the term can help distinguish between forms dominated by lines and those that rely on solid fills or gradients.

See also: viiva; viivakuvio; viivatyylit.