adjective
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shaped like a rectangle
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having or relating to right angles
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mutually perpendicular
rectangular coordinates
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having a base or section shaped like a rectangle
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rectangular
1615–25; < Medieval Latin rēctangul ( um ) rectangle + -ar 1
Explanation
In geometry, something that is rectangular had four sides and four right angles. Cereal boxes, dollar bills, and many cell phones have a rectangular shape. Anything shaped like a rectangle is rectangular. Your backyard may be rectangular, and your brother's oversized suit jacket might give his body a somewhat rectangular shape. The most important aspect of something that makes it rectangular is those four right angles, and the word itself is rooted in the Latin rectus, "right," and the Old French angle, "angle."
Vocabulary lists containing rectangular
Geometry - Introductory
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Geometry - Middle School
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Number and Operations: Fractions
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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.
Not that there weren’t some concerning moments in the game at Perth Rectangular Stadium, where the 18-year-old forward looked well below her best.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 3, 2023
"We are going to do our best to keep focused and confident," Marta said at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
From BBC • Aug. 1, 2023
Another safety tool to implement is Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons.
From Washington Post • Aug. 5, 2022
Rectangular bins hold boxed pantry items, books, office supplies, and kids’ cups.
From Slate • Mar. 1, 2021
Rectangular figures are regarded as older than circular figures, and they possibly preceded the latter in evolution, but in many instances both are forms of reversion, highly conventionalized representations of more elaborate figures.
From Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744 by Fewkes, Jesse Walter
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.
