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View synonyms for helix

helix

[hee-liks]

noun

plural

helices, helixes 
  1. a spiral.

  2. Geometry.,  the curve formed by a straight line drawn on a plane when that plane is wrapped around a cylindrical surface of any kind, especially a right circular cylinder, as the curve of a screw. Equation: x = a sinθ, y = a cosθ, z = b θ.

  3. Architecture.

    1. a spiral ornament.

    2. (in a Corinthian capital) either of two scrolls issuing from a cauliculus.

  4. Anatomy.,  the curved fold forming most of the rim of the external ear.

  5. Biochemistry.,  alpha helix.



helix

/ ˈhiːlɪks /

noun

  1. a curve that lies on a cylinder or cone, at a constant angle to the line segments making up the surface; spiral

  2. a spiral shape or form

  3. the incurving fold that forms the margin of the external ear

  4. another name for volute

  5. any terrestrial gastropod mollusc of the genus Helix, which includes the garden snail ( H. aspersa )

“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

helix

  1. A three-dimensional spiral curve. In mathematical terms, a helix can be described as a curve turning about an axis on the surface of a cylinder or cone while rising at a constant upward angle from a base.

  2. Something, such as a strand of DNA, having a spiral shape.

helix

  1. In geometry, a three-dimensional spiral shape, resembling a spring.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of helix1

1555–65; < Latin: a spiral, a kind of ivy < Greek hélix anything twisted; compare helíssein to turn, twist, roll
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Word History and Origins

Origin of helix1

C16: from Latin, from Greek: spiral; probably related to Greek helissein to twist
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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.

When she loses her cycle, she is forced to run up the helix of a parking garage at normal human speed, giving a pathetic comedic element to someone who ought to be terrifying.

Normally, alpha-synuclein's natural or "native state" is like a flexible strand, but when active it shapes itself into a helix, which is critical for its function in binding and transporting parcels of dopamine.

Read more on Science Daily

This is because the layers of helices stuck together are too big to be the building blocks of nanofibers.

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More than seven decades later, mathematician Robert Monjo believes he has discovered a similarly significant double helix — but this time not as the structure of human DNA, but as the structure of spacetime itself.

Read more on Salon

The enigma emerged in the 1950s, when biologists discovered that the double helix of DNA encodes genes.

Read more on New York Times

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