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icosahedron

American  
[ahy-koh-suh-hee-druhn, ahy-kos-uh-] / aɪˌkoʊ səˈhi drən, aɪˌkɒs ə- /

noun

  • icosahedrons,
    plural
  • icosahedra
    plural
  1. a solid figure having 20 faces.


icosahedron British  
/ ˌaɪkəsəˈhiːdrən /

noun

  1. a solid figure having 20 faces. The faces of a regular icosahedron are equilateral triangles

"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

icosahedron Scientific  
/ ī-kō′sə-hē′drən /
  • icosahedrons
    plural
  1. A polyhedron having twenty faces.


Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns


Etymology

Origin of icosahedron

1560–70; < Greek eikosáedron, equivalent to eikosa- (variant of eikosi-, combining form of eíkosi twenty) + -edron -hedron


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.

See Examples For:

They are the dominant culture — and filmgoers who have never clutched a 20-sided icosahedron are subject to their throw of the dice.

From New York Times ● Mar. 30, 2023

There, he can sit and admire it along with the rest of a collection that includes work from real artists, such as the 80-inch infinity light icosahedron sculpture by L.A.’s Anthony James.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 5, 2022

The maximum number of molecules that can be evenly assembled on the surface of an icosahedron is 60, but the number found in viruses is always much larger.

From Nature ● Dec. 11, 2018

When continental rifting does occur, the break-up pattern resembles the seams of a soccer ball, also called a truncated icosahedron.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017

Then inscribe in the Earth an icosahedron; the circle described in it will be Venus.

From The Martyrs of Science, or, The lives of Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler by Sir David Brewster

The crystals consist of icosahedra, as shown in Figure 18.13, with a boron atom at each corner.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

In the different forms of boron, there are different arrangements and connections between the icosahedra.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

In the most common form of boron, the icosahedra pack together in a manner similar to the cubic closest packing of spheres.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

The smallest particles of fire are tetrahedra, of air octahedra, of water icosahedra.

From A Critical History of Greek Philosophy by W. T. (Walter Terence) Stace

However, we may be wrong because "there are icosahedrons to every story."

From Time Magazine Archive

If any nation explodes a nuclear test in space, the orbiting icosahedrons should promptly report a violation of the test ban treaty.

From Time Magazine Archive

According to Plato earth was composed of cubes, fire of regular pyramids, air of regular octahedrons, water of regular icosahedrons.

From Timaeus by Benjamin Jowett

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