Linear editing is the process of selecting, arranging and modifying content (usually audio/video) into the desired sequence.
linear editing is seen to oppose non-linear editing because of the destructive nature, for example in film where the film would literally be cut and paste into position, once it was set there was no going back.
[...] is seen to be apposed to linear editing because you have equal access to any frame of the audio/video at any time so the process can go [...]