rectangle
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of rectangle
1565–75; < Medieval Latin rēctangulum, Late Latin rēctiangulum right-angled triangle (noun use of neuter of rēctiangulus having a right angle), equivalent to rēcti- recti- + angulum angle 1
Explanation
A rectangle is any shape with four sides and four right angles. All squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares (all the sides in a square have to be the same length). The rect in rectangle comes from the Latin rectus, which means "right" or "straight." Because of its right angles, a rectangle has straight sides. Another word with the same root is rectitude, which means moral uprightness. A morally upright person is someone who does the right thing, but doing the right thing doesn't make you a square — or a rectangle.
Vocabulary lists containing rectangle
Geometry - Introductory
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The ACT Math Test: Geometry, List 2
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Geometry - Middle School
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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.
Another incident detected in early January involved around 1,000 Chinese fishing vessels clustered in an uneven rectangle, about 400 kilometres long, for more than a day in the same area of the East China Sea.
From Barron's • Mar. 13, 2026
Yet, anyone born with “19” at the start of their birthyear still remembers how it felt to leave the house without a black rectangle in their hands.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 12, 2026
Once the dough had risen, I rolled it into a rectangle, spread on a thin layer of the miso-béchamel, showered it with Parmesan, Pecorino Romano and a very healthy amount of black pepper.
From Salon • Nov. 12, 2025
In “Venice, Palazzo Dario,” each rectangle has a different kind of broken color and a different temperature.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 11, 2025
In the barely visible reflection from the window glass, Scoob notices a white rectangle on the fridge beneath the Six Flags over Texas magnet G’ma bought, and whips around.
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
