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.

---

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

---

Etymology

Origin of pendentive

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

Example Sentences

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 angel figures of this pendentive are among the most beautiful and characteristic of the myriad throng of the cupola.

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

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 Symonds, John Addington

On the south-eastern pendentive: the Mouth of Hell.

From Byzantine Churches in Constantinople Their History and Architecture by Van Millingen, Alexander

It is octagonal in plan, with an inner structure of eight large piers, arranged in a circle, connected by arches which support a pendentive dome.

From The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Volume 01, No. 03, March 1895 The Cloister at Monreale, Near Palermo, Sicily by Various