polyhedron

[ pol-ee-hee-druhn ]

/ ˌpɒl iˈhi drən /

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noun, plural pol·y·he·drons, pol·y·he·dra

[pol-ee-hee-druh]. /ˌpɒl iˈhi drə/.

a solid figure having many faces.

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Origin of polyhedron

1560–70; <Greek polýedron, neuter of polýedros having many bases. See poly-, -hedron

Words nearby polyhedron

polygynous, polygyny, polygyria, polyhedral, polyhedral angle, polyhedron, polyhedrosis, polyhidrosis, polyhistor, polyhydramnios, polyhydric

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use polyhedron in a sentence

If we make a polyhedron out of clay, mark the edges with a Sharpie, and roll it into a ball, the faces and edges become curved but their number doesn’t change.
Topology 101: The Hole Truth|David S. Richeson|January 26, 2021|Quanta Magazine
Synacral, sin-ak′ral, adj. having a common vertex, as faces of a polyhedron.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements)|Various
Crime, he admitted, is a very complex phenomenon; it is a sort of polyhedron, of which every one sees a special side.
The Criminal|Havelock Ellis
"Polyhedron" is from the Greek polys (many) and hedra (seat).
The Teaching of Geometry|David Eugene Smith

The points thus obtained are evidently the vertices of a polyhedron with plane faces.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 17, Slice 8|Various
In the first place, each of these figures may be conceived as an orthogonal projection of a closed plane-faced polyhedron.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 17, Slice 8|Various

British Dictionary definitions for polyhedron

polyhedron

/ (ˌpɒlɪˈhiːdrən) /

noun plural -drons or -dra (-drə)

a solid figure consisting of four or more plane faces (all polygons), pairs of which meet along an edge, three or more edges meeting at a vertex. In a regular polyhedron all the faces are identical regular polygons making equal angles with each other. Specific polyhedrons are named according to the number of faces, such as tetrahedron, icosahedron, etc

Derived forms of polyhedron

polyhedral, adjective

Word Origin for polyhedron

C16: from Greek poluedron, from poly- + hedron side, base

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

Scientific definitions for polyhedron

polyhedron

[ pŏl′ē-hē′drən ]

Plural polyhedrons polyhedra

A three-dimensional geometric figure whose sides are polygons. A tetrahedron, for example, is a polyhedron having four triangular sides.♦ A regular polyhedron is a polyhedron whose faces are all congruent regular polygons. The regular tetrahedron (pyramid), hexahedron (cube), octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron are the five regular polyhedrons. Regular polyhedrons are a type of Archimedean solid.

Other words from polyhedron

polyhedral adjective