rhombus
Americannoun
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an oblique-angled equilateral parallelogram; any equilateral parallelogram except a square.
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an equilateral parallelogram, including the square as a special case.
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a rhombohedron.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rhombus
First recorded in 1560–70; from Latin, from Greek rhómbos “anything that may be spun around,” derivative of rhémbein “to revolve”
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How does rhombus compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A rhombus is a parallelogram with four equal sides and opposite equal angles. A rhombus can be a square, or if it has two acute angles and two obtuse angles, it takes the shape of a diamond. The rhombus gets its name from the Greek rhómbos, which means "a spinning top." This word describes the shape of a "bullroarer," an object that was tied to a cord and spun around, making a great noise. It was used to taunt bulls into action during bull-fighting events. This rhombus-shaped object has been documented as being used for religious rites and games all over the ancient world. Nowadays, we prefer to study the rhombus in geometry.
Vocabulary lists containing rhombus
Geometry - Introductory
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Geometry - Middle School
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Geometry (Base List)
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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.
See Examples For:
They added a structure to one side of the rhombus to mimic a bomb-like object and observed how the droplet and its wave patterns changed in response.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 12, 2023
I don’t know exactly what a leader in equity and well-being does, but I’d assume it involves a bunch of acronyms and maybe some other restorative shapes, like a triangle or a rhombus.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 16, 2023
The underside of the structure — as well as the ceiling in the exhibition spaces — will not be flat concrete, like an overpass, but will bear a rhombus pattern drawn from the building’s structure.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2020
Use vectors to show that the diagonals of a rhombus are perpendicular.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
Sure enough, within seconds, a distant rhombus of ocher light containing her outline widened, paused, then narrowed to nothing as she entered the house and the door was closed behind her.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
It was just wonderful: dimpled with pinky-prints, scattered with rhombi of flake salt and apostrophes of rosemary, and the bread's interior: marshmallowy, pillowy, cotton-candied, a tufted thing under an oleaginous crust.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2018
The A of his alphabet is the square, and the rest proceeds through ovals, rhombi, etc., in a code of images down to the Z shape itself.
From Time Magazine Archive
A path of broken rectangles and rhombi spilled crazily down the stairs, coming to rest on the heads of the wooden monkeys at the base.
From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett
In “Bearings Charted With Yellow,” from 1946, the overlapping rhombuses have a dizzying effect, suggesting a teasing motion that doesn’t actually get anywhere, while “Bearings in Transition,” beside it, is as still as the grave.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2019
The bold background of orange and white rhombuses only hints at his avant-garde sensibilities.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2016
Sunlight cut through the window and sent rhombuses of light knifing across the garage space.
From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely
Even in such wise, if you will, that all the six faces are equal and similar rhombuses.
From Treatise on Light by Huygens, Christiaan
The walls were irregularly covered with rhombuses, rhomboids, lozenges, diamonds, triangles, and parallelograms; the carpet was treated likewise, and also the upholstery and the cushions.
From The Pretty Lady by Bennett, Arnold
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.
