bevel
Americannoun
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bevels
plural
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the inclination that one line or surface makes with another when not at right angles.
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a surface that does not form a right angle with adjacent surfaces.
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(of a lock bolt) the oblique end that hits the strike plate.
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(of a lock with a beveled bolt) the side facing in the same direction as the bevel at the end of the bolt.
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an adjustable instrument for drawing angles or adjusting the surface of work to a particular inclination.
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Printing. beard.
verb (used with or without object)
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bevels,
present (3rd person singular)
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beveled,
past participle, past
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bevelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
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beveling,
present participle
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bevelling
present participle (especially British)
adjective
noun
verb
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(intr) to be inclined; slope
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(tr) to cut a bevel on (a piece of timber, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bevelsimple
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bevelssimple
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have beveledperfect
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have bevelledperfect
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has beveledperfect
-
has bevelledperfect
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am bevelingprogressive
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am bevellingprogressive
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are bevelingprogressive
-
are bevellingprogressive
-
is bevelingprogressive
-
is bevellingprogressive
-
have been bevelingperfect progressive
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have been bevellingperfect progressive
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has been bevelingperfect progressive
-
has been bevellingperfect progressive
Past
-
beveledsimple
-
bevelledsimple
-
had beveledperfect
-
had bevelledperfect
-
was bevelingprogressive
-
was bevellingprogressive
-
were bevelingprogressive
-
were bevellingprogressive
-
had been bevelingperfect progressive
-
had been bevellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bevel
First recorded in 1555–65; from unattested Middle French bevel ( French béveau, biveau ), unattested Old French baivel, equivalent to baïf “with open mouth” ( ba(er) “to gape” ( see bay 2) + -if adjective suffix) + -el, from Latin -ellus noun suffix; see -ive, -elle
Vocabulary lists containing bevel
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:
To bear up under the higher stress, the PDK’s clutches, gearsets and bevel gear have all been reinforced.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
Even when I'm cutting a pumpkin, I will cut a little bevel on the bottom, just cut a little edge off, and now it is solid on the board.
From Salon ● Nov. 25, 2022
“So if you do it at an angle, it will have a bevel edge.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 17, 2022
“The Rockette bevel is what it’s all about.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 4, 2020
At the lower end of the spindle is a chuck for holding and driving the drill, which is obviously operated by revolving the handled crank which is fast upon the large bevel gear.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose
The aim was realism in the inflatables’ corners and bevels but with distortion and accentuation in certain curves.
From New York Times ● Feb. 24, 2022
Staircases that had simple bevels and architecture give way to columbines, lotuses and other ornate features carved into the walnut and mahogany.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 20, 2020
Use a chop saw to put 45-degree bevels at the corners and screw the box together using exterior trimhead wood screws that are 2.5 or 3 inches long.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 29, 2020
To answer an obvious question: The difference between 15 degrees and 12 degrees is so slight that a 15-degree sharpener is fine for both kinds of bevels.
From Slate ● Oct. 11, 2018
"It is swell, I declare!" said Jane, with her eye on the wrought-iron work of the outer doors and the jewels and bevels of the inner-ones.
From With the Procession by Henry Blake Fuller
Their beveled corners are polished to a high glossy sheen, which creates slender vertical stripes that contrast sharply with the charcoal shadows from which they emerge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
Do you want to know if someone needs a changing table topper with beveled sides, preferably before Friday?
From Slate ● Jan. 11, 2025
This flat piece will have beveled edges and it will be secured to the roof ridge board.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 8, 2024
If you’re reusing parts, the only tricky details are to slip the nuts onto the unthreaded sections first, then add the washers, so the beveled edge faces the pipe section that has the threads.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2022
He explains that the new plank needs a beveled edge so it will fit up tight against the keel.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
He has also acted in theatre and on screen, busked, potted, bevelled glass, made music and made people laugh - he's about to cameo in TV series Black Comedy, which showcases indigenous sketches.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2019
But, amid waves of contact, large languages lose their sharp edges, becoming bevelled as pieces of glass.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 1, 2016
"The cause is Ozymandian The map of Sapokanikan Is sanded and bevelled The land lone and levelled By some unrecorded and powerful hand Which plays along the monument And drums upon a plastic bag"
From The Verge ● Oct. 23, 2015
Staff would deliver trays of prototype phones for him to inspect and pore over, spinning them to check for balance and running his fingers across the bevelled edges and joints.
From Reuters ● Aug. 20, 2013
Presentation Edition, cloth elegant, bevelled boards, gilt edges, in box, 7s. 6d.
From Our Journey to the Hebrides by Elizabeth Robins Pennell
“I wanted to keep the planters very linear, without any beveling on the edges, and that informed my material choice,” she says.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2023
Plywood is made from layers of compressed sheets, which the beveling reveals at the sides.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2016
We settled on a sculptural stylized version and this sketch shows a study in variations on the amount of beveling and possible finishes.
From Time ● Mar. 4, 2015
At the same time, the form tool No. 10, held at the rear of the cross-slide, is fed up for beveling the flange to an angle of 60 degrees.
From Turning and Boring A specialized treatise for machinists, students in the industrial and engineering schools, and apprentices, on turning and boring methods, etc. by Franklin D. Jones
How many centuries of cutting and gouging, beveling and grooving were required to accomplish this, who can tell?
This may, however, be remedied to a great extent by bevelling off the ends from the outside as shown in Fig.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose
Also, the bevelling of any piece of timber or plank to any required angle: as the bearding of dead wood, clamps, &c.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
An instrument by which bevelling angles are taken.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
When in situ it is accommodated by the Cutigeral Groove, a cavity produced by the bevelling out of the superior portion of the inner face of the wall of the hoof.
From Diseases of the Horse's Foot by Harry Caulton Reeks
A slight bevelling at the expense of the posterior margin will produce an anchylosis of the limb in a very slightly flexed position, which is found to aid the patient in walking.
From A Manual of the Operations of Surgery For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners by Joseph Bell
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.
