rectangle
Americannoun
-
rectangles
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rectangle
1565–75; < Medieval Latin rēctangulum, Late Latin rēctiangulum right-angled triangle (noun use of neuter of rēctiangulus having a right angle), equivalent to rēcti- recti- + angulum angle 1
Explanation
A rectangle is any shape with four sides and four right angles. All squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares (all the sides in a square have to be the same length). The rect in rectangle comes from the Latin rectus, which means "right" or "straight." Because of its right angles, a rectangle has straight sides. Another word with the same root is rectitude, which means moral uprightness. A morally upright person is someone who does the right thing, but doing the right thing doesn't make you a square — or a rectangle.
Vocabulary lists containing rectangle
Geometry - Introductory
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The ACT Math Test: Geometry, List 2
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Geometry - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Each new segment of the city he rides is generally a rectangle bound by major streets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Place a small oven-safe 3-ounce ramekin in the center of each rectangle, pressing down lightly to create a well.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
When will a small flat rectangle of electronics stop being the preferred form factor for the computers 5.8 billion humans carry around with them?
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Carrots and papaya plants have already pushed up through a rectangle of dark soil, thanks to a technique based on organic fertilisers made from a mixture of compost and chicken manure.
From Barron's ● Nov. 26, 2025
“Let’s try this one,” she said, opening the brown-and-gold rectangle that had smelled so sweet.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
Cut one sheet of puff pastry into four rectangles and arrange them on a parchment-lined sheet pan.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
Those red rectangles that you step off and get on for people in wheelchairs, those are probably our No. 1 priority, making sure they’re accessible.
From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2026
A jumble of rectangles snaps into a rigidly composed vista of a white gate set into an earthy wall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
In L.A.’s brittle landscape of concrete rectangles and choking freeways, Eaton Canyon, just seven miles from where we live, was a sanctuary to thousands of people.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2025
Calder then realized that if you thought about those twelve people as pentominoes, you could see that certain ones fit into rectangles more easily than others.
From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
