catenary
Americannoun
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catenaries
plural
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Mathematics. the curve assumed approximately by a heavy uniform cord or chain hanging freely from two points not in the same vertical line. Equation: y = k cos h (x /k ).
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(in electric railroads) the cable, running above the track, from which the trolley wire is suspended.
adjective
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of, relating to, or resembling a catenary.
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of or relating to a chain or linked series.
noun
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the curve assumed by a heavy uniform flexible cord hanging freely from two points. When symmetrical about the y- axis and intersecting it at y = a , the equation is y = a cosh x / a
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the hanging cable between pylons along a railway track, from which the trolley wire is suspended
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of catenary
1780–90; < Latin catēnārius relating to a chain, equivalent to catēn ( a ) a chain + -ārius -ary
Vocabulary lists containing catenary
Structural Engineering
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Engineering - High 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:
Its form is that of the catenary curve, the most perfect shape for an arch, and the only one that requires no buttressing from the side.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
Agnoli, who worked as a carpenter prior to entering architecture, used long spans of wood to create massive trusses and spiraling nautilus shapesand formed brick into catenary arches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2025
Sound Transit’s resident engineer denied most of a $3.8 million claim Walsh filed on Clackamas, Ore.-based Liberty’s behalf regarding 107 catenary poles, affected by utilities, boulders, timbers and concrete.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 22, 2023
And then there’s also the basic infrastructure: the track, signal systems, electric catenary systems that also are beyond their useful life in many cases.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2021
I have not yet had time to engage in it; but I find that the conclusions of his demonstrations are, that every part of the catenary is in perfect equilibrium.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph
Power is often still carried on lines that hang in graceful catenaries of various depths from poles that lean left or right randomly but rarely stand straight.
From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2012
A relief sculpture by Charles Biederman or the prodigious steel catenaries of Othmar H. Ammann's design for the George Washington Bridge?
From Time Magazine Archive
The catenaries which lie beyond the two generate surfaces whose radius of curvature convex towards the axis in the meridian plane is greater than the radius of concave curvature.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various
Now let us consider the surfaces of revolution formed by this system of catenaries revolving about the directrix of the two catenaries of equal tension.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various
It is true, they will not be exact catenaries, but they will depart very little from it; much less than portions of circles will.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph
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.
