cone

American  

[kohn] / koʊn /

noun

• cones
  plural

1. Geometry.

   1. a solid whose surface is generated by a line passing through a fixed point and a fixed plane curve not containing the point, consisting of two equal sections joined at a vertex.

   2. a plane surface resembling the cross section of a solid cone.

2. anything shaped like a cone.

   sawdust piled up in a great cone; the cone of a volcano.

3. ice-cream cone.

4. Botany.

   1. the more or less conical multiple fruit of the pine, fir, etc., consisting of overlapping or valvate scales bearing naked ovules or seeds; a strobile.

   2. a similar fruit, as in cycads or club mosses.

5. Anatomy. one of the cone-shaped cells in the retina of the eye, sensitive to color and intensity of light.

6. one of a series of cone-shaped markers placed along a road, as around an area of highway construction, especially to exclude or divert motor vehicles.

7. (in a taper thread screw or bevel gear) an imaginary cone or frustum of a cone concentric to the axis and defining the pitch surface or one of the extremities of the threads or teeth.

8. Ceramics. pyrometric cone.

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verb (used with object)

coned, coning

1. to shape like a cone or a segment of a cone.

cone British  

/ kəʊn /

noun

1. 1. a geometric solid consisting of a plane base bounded by a closed curve, often a circle or an ellipse, every point of which is joined to a fixed point, the vertex, lying outside the plane of the base. A right circular cone has a vertex perpendicularly above or below the centre of a circular base. Volume of a cone: 1/ 3 π r ² h, where r is the radius of the base and h is the height of the cone

   2. a geometric surface formed by a line rotating about the vertex and connecting the peripheries of two closed plane bases, usually circular or elliptical, above and below the vertex See also conic section

2. anything that tapers from a circular section to a point, such as a wafer shell used to contain ice cream

3. 1. the reproductive body of conifers and related plants, made up of overlapping scales, esp the mature female cone , whose scales each bear a seed

   2. Technical name: strobilus.  a similar structure in horsetails, club mosses, etc

4. a small cone-shaped bollard used as a temporary traffic marker on roads

5. Also called: retinal cone.  any one of the cone-shaped cells in the retina of the eye, sensitive to colour and bright light

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verb

1. (tr) to shape like a cone or part of a cone

cone Scientific  

/ kōn /

1. A three-dimensional surface or solid object in which the base is a circle and upper surface narrows to form a point. The surface of a cone is formed mathematically by moving a line that passes through a fixed point (the vertex) along a circle.

2. A rounded or elongated reproductive structure that consists of sporophylls or scales arranged spirally or in an overlapping fashion along a central stem, as in conifers and cycads. For example, the familiar woody pinecone is actually the female cone, made up of ovule-bearing scales. The smaller male cones of the pine consist of thin overlapping microsporophylls. These produce pollen that is carried by the wind to fertilize ovules in the female cones. When the seeds in the female cones mature, the cones of many pine species expand to release them. In some pine species, cones release seeds only in response to the presence of fire.

3. See also strobilus

4. One of the cone-shaped cells in the retina of the eye of many vertebrate animals. Cones are extremely sensitive to light and can distinguish among different wavelengths. Cones are responsible for vision during daylight and for the ability to see colors.

5. Compare rod

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cones
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cone

1480–90; < Latin cōnus < Greek kônos pine-cone, cone-shaped figure; akin to hone ¹

Explanation

A cone is a shape that has a circle at the bottom and sides that narrow to a point, like a party hat, a rubber pylon at a construction site, or, yes, an ice cream cone. Why is a cone called a cone? The Latin word conus means "the peak of a helmet," which must have described the shape of this type of hat in the 16th century. The Greek konos means "spinning top" and "pine cone." Both of these objects have one wider end that tapers to a point, describing a cone very accurately.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cone cones coned coning

On Sunday, Team Scotland stood out at the closing ceremony with traffic cone hats, in a nod to the iconic Duke of Wellingston statue.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

The 31-year-old Mexican tourist walked out with a cone of vanilla and chocolate swirl soft serve.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

The cone of silence around the wedding is the only place in which these dueling Swifts can freely coexist.

From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026

When athletes arrive at this summer's Commonwealth Games in the city, they will be greeted by mascot Finnie, a unicorn with a cone on its head.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

Sitting beside him at last, feeling his warmth as they ate ice cream together and laughed at Lydia's efforts with a cone, Ann believed that maybe things would work out for them after all.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Whitemountain Quarries indicated that they would put up their own cones and signs.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

Residents have resorted to using orange cones to stop Waymos from driving through alleyways or onto the lots.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

They were formed with cones, shipping pallets, chairs, trash bins, or even neighbors inside a traffic circle.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

Vision begins when rods and cones in the retina detect light.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026

Like it just thought, Oh, I’m tired of being here in this stack with the other cones.

From "Invisible Inkling" by Emily Jenkins

Visitors to the GoMA can also part with £15 to get their hands on a coned Duke of Wellington tote bag or £20 for a T-shirt.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

The hole covering was unmarked and “not coned off nor identified in any way,” the complaint says.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2023

The ski-slope pre-credit sequence ought to be scooped and coned; and the climactic mine-shaft explosion looks like it cost a lot of money and geology.

From New York Times ● May 28, 2020

“Right where the hole goes in, it slopes, and it’s flattened out, and it coned back down, and that was where some really loose sediment was, and I could stick my hands into it.”

From Washington Post ● Sep. 24, 2018

The plate may be made of cast iron with hardened steel bushes to fit the coned holes.

From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose

They tell me that coning may be one of the first physical protests against artificial intelligence - and that these kinds of human actions are going to become more and more common.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2023

Speaking to the Standard, an unnamed Waymo spokesperson called the coning “vandalism” that “encourages unsafe and disrespectful behavior on our roadways.”

From Slate ● Jul. 11, 2023

“I was born and raised in Southern California. I’m going to help my people out, especially when people are coning to me.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2018

Justin Bieber is a drive-thru jerk: Justin Bieber, prince of pranks, tapes himself "coning" a poor Wendy's employee.

From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2011

He longed very much to come, they knew, and they permitted themselves to hope, almost to believe, that they would see him again, and waited for his coning with what patience they could command.

From Frederica and her Guardians The Perils of Orphanhood by Margaret M. (Margaret Murray) Robertson