rectangular

American  

[rek-tang-gyuh-ler] / rɛkˈtæŋ gyə lər /

adjective

1. shaped like a rectangle.

2. having the base or section in the form of a rectangle.

   a rectangular pyramid.

3. having one or more right angles.

4. forming a right angle.

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rectangular British  

/ rɛkˈtæŋɡjʊlə /

adjective

1. shaped like a rectangle

2. having or relating to right angles

3. mutually perpendicular

   rectangular coordinates

4. having a base or section shaped like a rectangle

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Other Word Forms

• nonrectangular adjective
• nonrectangularity noun
• nonrectangularly adverb
• rectangularity noun
• rectangularly adverb
• rectangularness noun
• subrectangular adjective
• unrectangular adjective
• unrectangularly adverb

Etymology

Origin of rectangular

1615–25; < Medieval Latin rēctangul ( um ) rectangle + -ar ¹

Example Sentences

EV batteries come in different forms—cylindrical, pouch and prismatic—but grid-scale batteries tend to just be prismatic, a rectangular shape that can be stacked.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

In the newest version of the detector, the metasurface that absorbs light was redesigned into a circular shape rather than a rectangular one.

From Science Daily • Mar. 4, 2026

One of the current show’s larger conceptual pieces, “Memorial for the Victims of Organized Religion II,” fills a corner with 48 rectangular portrait-sized photographs, all of them solid black or dark blue.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2026

Agility’s Digit robot, with its rectangular eyes and pincers for hands, looks a little more like science fiction and a little less like a human replacement.

From Barron's • Feb. 6, 2026

And there it is—a rectangular package wrapped in brown paper and twine.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy