cone

[ kohn ]

/ koʊn /

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See synonyms for: cone / coned on Thesaurus.com

noun

Geometry.

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

anything shaped like a cone: sawdust piled up in a great cone; the cone of a volcano.

ice-cream cone.

Botany.

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

Anatomy. one of the cone-shaped cells in the retina of the eye, sensitive to color and intensity of light.Compare rod (def. 17).

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.

(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.

Ceramics. pyrometric cone.

verb (used with object), coned, con·ing.

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

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of cone

1480–90; <Latin cōnus<Greek kônos pine-cone, cone-shaped figure; akin to hone¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cone in a sentence

Mahomes, who threw for 462 yards as he toppled Tom Brady, would be an all-time great if he passed to traffic cones.
What to know from NFL Week 12: Tyreek Hill and Derrick Henry took over as the coronavirus loomed|Adam Kilgore|November 30, 2020|Washington Post
Venom from spiders and cone snails target the same sodium channels.
Please do not touch the Australian stinging tree|Rebecca E. Hirsch|November 25, 2020|Science News For Students
For instance, “the cone of uncertainty”—the wavering cone TV meteorologists often point to when tracking a storm—is often thought to represent the area of impact.
NOAA is changing the way it talks about hurricanes|Greta Moran|September 22, 2020|Popular-Science
To test the approach, the team had the cones expand at a fixed rate.
How special relativity can help AI predict the future|Will Heaven|August 28, 2020|MIT Technology Review

Picture these ever larger circles rising second by second out of the sheet of paper, and you have an upside-down cone with the original event at its tip.
How special relativity can help AI predict the future|Will Heaven|August 28, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Several National Grid and ConEd trucks were on the scene by early morning.
Residents in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Assess the Damage After Sandy|Eliza Shapiro|October 31, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Despite fears that ConEd, the power company, would preemptively cut electricity, the lights stayed on.
Irene Political Report Card|David A. Graham|August 29, 2011|DAILY BEAST
The vanes are limited by slightly-coned annular cover plates.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 1|Various
About the rod is fitted a movable bronze collar, coned and grooved to take the socket and clamping spring of the mirror bar.
Visual Signaling|Signal Corps United States Army
The circle carries a track, on which a ring of coned rollers revolves, which in turn supports the car.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 484, April 11, 1885|Various
This table is sharply coned, and can be made to work the dough as much or as little as may be required.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 4|Various
A short reamer that is driven by fitting to a coned mandrel.
Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II|Joshua Rose

British Dictionary definitions for cone

cone

/ (kəʊn) /

noun

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
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 vertexSee also conic section

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

the reproductive body of conifers and related plants, made up of overlapping scales, esp the mature female cone, whose scales each bear a seed
a similar structure in horsetails, club mosses, etcTechnical name: strobilus

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

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

verb

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

Word Origin for cone

C16: from Latin cōnus, from Greek kōnus pine cone, geometrical cone

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for cone

cone

[ kōn ]

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.

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. See also strobilus.

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. Compare rod.

cone

Origin of cone

Words related to cone

How to use cone in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for cone

Word Origin for cone

Scientific definitions for cone