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conformal

American  
[kuhn-fawr-muhl] / kənˈfɔr məl /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or noting a map or transformation in which angles and scale are preserved.


conformal British  
/ kənˈfɔːməl /

adjective

  1. maths

    1. (of a transformation) preserving the angles of the depicted surface

    2. (of a parameter) relating to such a transformation

  2. Also called: orthomorphic.  (of a map projection) maintaining true shape over a small area and scale in every direction

"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

conformal Scientific  
/ kən-fôrməl /
  1. Relating to the mapping of a surface or region onto another surface so that all angles between intersecting curves remain unchanged.

  2. Relating to a map projection in which small areas are rendered with true shape.


Etymology

Origin of conformal

First recorded in 1640–50, conformal is from the Late Latin word confōrmālis of the same shape. See con-, formal 1

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.

These phenomena fall within the domain of logarithmic conformal field theories.

From Science Daily • Dec. 16, 2025

Penrose overcame his funk by inventing a new model of the universe, conformal cyclic cosmology, which he spells out in his 2010 book Cycles of Time.

From Scientific American • Jun. 16, 2021

This is accomplished by attaching a conformal piece of equipment to soldier glasses, engineered to pick up and transmit neurological responses.

From Fox News • Sep. 1, 2020

The link below http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartogram has a conformal population cartogram for the 2004 presidential election, and it's enlightening.

From New York Times • Oct. 18, 2016

Such surfaces are capable of a conformal representation on a plane, by which geodesics are represented by straight lines.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6 "Geodesy" to "Geometry" by Various