rectangle

American  

[rek-tang-guhl] / ˈrɛkˌtæŋ gəl /

noun

1. a parallelogram having four right angles.

---

rectangle British  

/ ˈrɛkˌtæŋɡəl /

noun

1. a parallelogram having four right angles Compare rhombus

---

rectangle Scientific  

/ rĕk′tăng′gəl /

1. A four-sided plane figure with four right angles.

---

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.

Example Sentences

Painted after Artemisia returned to Rome after several years in Florence, the roughly life-size, seated figure is folded elegantly into the rectangle of the canvas.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

Carrots and papaya plants have already pushed up through a rectangle of dark soil, thanks to a technique based on organic fertilisers made from a mixture of compost and chicken manure.

From Barron's • Nov. 26, 2025

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

Stuck to her right cheek was a little yellow star on a red rectangle - the Vietnamese flag.

From BBC • Apr. 29, 2025

Dylan points to a small white rectangle just in front of the flower bush.

From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston

Related Words

• square