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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-hēdrən /
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

An icosahedron is a Platonic solid with a surface that consists of 20 equilateral triangles.

From Textbooks Mar. 30, 2016

These give the solid angles of the tetrahedron, the octahedron and the icosahedron.

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

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 Stace, W. T. (Walter Terence)

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 Jowett, Benjamin

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