pendentive

American  

[pen-den-tiv] / pɛnˈdɛn tɪv /

noun

Architecture.

1. any of several spandrels, in the form of spherical triangles, forming a transition between the circular plan of a dome and the polygonal plan of the supporting masonry.

2. any of several masonry devices, as squinches or trompes, for forming a transition between a circular or polygonal construction, as a dome or lantern, and supporting masonry of a different plan.

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adjective

1. functioning as, or substituting for, a pendentive.

   pendentive corbeling.

pendentive British  

/ pɛnˈdɛntɪv /

noun

1. any of four triangular sections of vaulting with concave sides, positioned at a corner of a rectangular space to support a circular or polygonal dome

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Etymology

Origin of pendentive

1720–30; pendent + -ive, modeled on French pendentif

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pendentive

For Beckwourth, 1980, presents a kind of solid wooden hogan with an ovoid top plastered in cracked mud, recalling both the primitive hut and the origins of the pendentive dome.

From Time Magazine Archive

The last pendentive of the vaulting rests on a single shaft springing directly from a head-corbel.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ripon A Short History of the Church and a Description of Its Fabric by Cecil Walter Charles Hallett

There is not much in the figure of our pendentive to suggest the stern and fearless prophet of the wilderness.

From Correggio A Collection Of Fifteen Pictures And A Portrait Of The Painter With Introduction And Interpretation by Correggio

There is foliage upon the capitals of these vaulting-shafts, and upon the capital and base of that which supports the last pendentive of the vaulting.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ripon A Short History of the Church and a Description of Its Fabric by Cecil Walter Charles Hallett

The pendentive upon which the prophet Jonah sits, descends and breaks the surface at the top, leaving a semicircular compartment on each side of its corbel.

From The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti by John Addington Symonds