cubic
[kyoo-bik]
- having three dimensions; solid.
- having the form of a cube; cubical.
- pertaining to the measurement of volume: the cubic contents of a vessel.
- pertaining to a unit of linear measure that is multiplied by itself twice to form a unit of measure for volume: cubic foot; cubic centimeter; cubic inch; cubic meter.
- Mathematics. of or relating to the third degree.
- Crystallography. belonging or pertaining to the isometric system of crystallization.
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- Mathematics. a cubic polynomial or equation.
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Origin of cubic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cubic
Contemporary Examples
Each year their fields need at least 53 billion cubic meters of water for irrigation.
The conflict in Ukraine caused Gazprom to cut production volumes from 496.4 billion cubic meters to 463 billion cubic meters.
The daughter had also been exposed and was comatose before she and her mother each received A 250 cubic centimeter transfusion.
She grew increasingly ill despite a 450 cubic centimeter transfusion and became comatose after five days.
They make a 0.75 cubic foot bag of firewood blazing with a Hotsticks logo.
Historical Examples
To express the cubic content of a turnip, you must be all round it at once.
Alarms and DiscursionsG. K. Chesterton
The dirt contained one cent and a fifth of gold in a cubic foot.
Hittel on Gold Mines and MiningJohn S. Hittell
A man will throw in from two to five cubic yards of dirt in one day.
Hittel on Gold Mines and MiningJohn S. Hittell
In a cubic foot there will of course be 1728 times that number.
The Machinery of the UniverseAmos Emerson Dolbear
That a mass of ice about a cubic yard in size had fallen at Candeish, India, 1828.
The Book of the DamnedCharles Fort
cubic
- having the shape of a cube
- having three dimensions
- denoting or relating to a linear measure that is raised to the third powera cubic metre Abbreviation: cu., c
- maths of, relating to, or containing a variable to the third power or a term in which the sum of the exponents of the variables is three
- Also: isometric, regular crystallog relating to or belonging to the crystal system characterized by three equal perpendicular axes. The unit cell of cubic crystals is a cube with a lattice point at each corner (simple cubic) and one in the cube's centre (body-centred cubic), or a lattice point at each corner and one at the centre of each face (face-centred cubic)
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- maths
- a cubic equation, such as x ³ + x + 2 = 0
- a cubic term or expression
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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
Word Origin and History for cubic
adj.
1550s, from Middle French cubique (14c.), from Latin cubicus, from Greek kybikos, from kybos "cube" (see cube (n.)). Related: Cubical.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
cubic
[kyōō′bĭk]
- Referring to a volume unit of measurement.
- Involving a number or a variable that has been raised to the third power.
- Relating to a crystal having three axes of equal length intersecting at right angles. The mineral pyrite has cubic crystals. Also called isometric See illustration at crystal.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.