vertex

American  

[vur-teks] / ˈvɜr tɛks /

noun

• vertexes,
  plural
• vertices
  plural

1. the highest point of something; apex; summit; top.

   the vertex of a mountain.

2. Anatomy, Zoology. the crown or top of the head.

3. Craniometry. the highest point on the midsagittal plane of the skull or head viewed from the left side when the skull or head is in the Frankfurt horizontal.

4. Astronomy. a point in the celestial sphere toward which or from which the common motion of a group of stars is directed.

5. Geometry.

   1. the point farthest from the base.

      the vertex of a cone or of a pyramid.

   2. a point in a geometrical solid common to three or more sides.

   3. the intersection of two sides of a plane figure.

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vertex British  

/ ˈvɜːtɛks /

noun

1. the highest point

2. maths

   1. the point opposite the base of a figure

   2. the point of intersection of two sides of a plane figure or angle

   3. the point of intersection of a pencil of lines or three or more planes of a solid figure

3. astronomy a point in the sky towards which a star stream appears to move

4. anatomy the crown of the head

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vertex Scientific  

/ vûr′tĕks′ /

• vertices
  plural

1. The point at which the sides of an angle intersect.

2. The point of a triangle, cone, or pyramid that is opposite to and farthest away from its base.

3. A point of a polyhedron at which three or more of the edges intersect.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• vertexes
  plural
• vertices
  plural

Etymology

Origin of vertex

First recorded in 1560–70; from Latin: “a whirl, top (of the head),” equivalent to vert(ere) “to turn” + -ex (stem -ic- ) noun suffix

Explanation

If you’ve reached the vertex of something, you know it’s all downhill after that, because vertex refers to the highest point on an object, such as the top of a mountain. In its early usage vertex referred to the top of a person’s head. That meaning is still common, especially in the field of anatomy, but these days you can use the word in a broader sense to refer to the highest point of anything. Still, it’ll help you remember the meaning of vertex if you visualize the top of someone’s head — the highest point — when you think of this word. If you want to get technical, in the field of mathematics, vertex can refer to the point at which lines meet and form an angle, or to the point on a figure, such as a triangle or cone, that is opposite to its base.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vertex vertexes vertices

This was practically confirmed using a vertex cover problem with 4096 vertices.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 25, 2024

A nonlinear system could be representative of a parabola and a circle, where the vertex of the parabola meets the circle and the branches also intersect the circle, hence three solutions.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021

This form is sometimes known as the vertex form or standard form.

From Textbooks ● May 6, 2020

The vertex is on the line x = 1 .

From Textbooks ● May 6, 2020

I stared at the peak for perhaps thirty minutes, trying to apprehend what it would be like to be standing on that gale- swept vertex.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Two classes of shapes work, they proved: “boring parallelograms” and “surprising cyclic quadrilaterals,” cyclic meaning that all vertexes of a quadrilateral lie on a circle.

From New York Times ● Jan. 1, 2023

Fuller calls it a geodesic dome because the vertexes of the curved squares and tetrahedrons that form its structure mark the arcs of great circles that are known in geometry as "geodesies."

From Time Magazine Archive

This was practically confirmed using a vertex cover problem with 4096 vertices.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 25, 2024

While place cells fire whenever an animal is in a specific location, grid cells fire only when the animal is at one of the vertices of a triangular lattice.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2023

Deneb is apparently the faintest of the stellar triangle vertices, but don’t be fooled.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 14, 2023

In the Blue Brain graph, for example, three neurons with all three synapses between them transmitting signals formed the vertices of a hollow triangle.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 26, 2022

The octagon P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 is inscribed in a circle, with the vertices around the circumference in the given order.

From "The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl" by Stacy McAnulty