parallelogram

American  

[par-uh-lel-uh-gram] / ˌpær əˈlɛl əˌgræm /

noun

1. a quadrilateral having both pairs of opposite sides parallel to each other.

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parallelogram British  

/ ˌpærəˈlɛləˌɡræm /

noun

1. a quadrilateral whose opposite sides are parallel and equal in length See also rhombus rectangle trapezium trapezoid

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parallelogram Scientific  

/ păr′ə-lĕl′ə-grăm′ /

1. A four-sided plane figure with opposite sides parallel. Rhombuses and rectangles are parallelograms.

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Other Word Forms

• parallelogrammatic adjective
• parallelogrammatical adjective

Etymology

Origin of parallelogram

First recorded in 1560–70; from Late Latin parallēlogrammum, from Greek parallēlógrammon; equivalent to parallel + -o- + -gram ¹

Compare meaning

How does parallelogram compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• rhombus vs. parallelogram

Example Sentences

To build the lantern, the team began with a thin polymer sheet cut into a diamond-shaped parallelogram.

From Science Daily • Oct. 11, 2025

For this step, in Schwartz’s 2021 paper, he incorrectly concluded that this shape was a parallelogram.

From Scientific American • Sep. 12, 2023

Now, we have to get it square since at this point it’s probably a parallelogram, not a right rectangle!

From Seattle Times • Dec. 12, 2022

First, they glued together two opposing sides of the parallelogram, forming a cylinder with two red dots: one on the top and one on the bottom.

From Scientific American • Sep. 26, 2022

A child’s rubber slippers lay pigeon-toed in the bright parallelogram of barred sunlight on the floor.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

Related Words

• square