tetrahedron
Americannoun
-
Geometry. a solid contained by four plane faces; a triangular pyramid.
-
any of various objects resembling a tetrahedron in the distribution of its faces or apexes.
noun
-
a solid figure having four plane faces. A regular tetrahedron has faces that are equilateral triangles See also polyhedron
-
any object shaped like a tetrahedron
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tetrahedron
1560–70; tetra- + -hedron, modeled on Late Greek tetráedron, noun use of neuter of tetráedros four-sided
Vocabulary lists containing tetrahedron
UCPS 6th Grade Roots List #5
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Organic Chemistry
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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:
For example, a tetrahedron, a solid three-dimensional pyramid with four triangular faces, would fill in a group of four neurons firing together.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 26, 2022
Many elements overlapped, forming a multidimensional sculpture: a triangle might jut out of a tetrahedron and meet another triangle at a point.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 26, 2022
A molecule of methane, CH4, consists of a carbon atom surrounded by four hydrogen atoms at the corners of a tetrahedron.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019
As a solid, as a liquid, as a gas, and in solution, white phosphorus exists as P4 molecules with four phosphorus atoms at the corners of a regular tetrahedron, as illustrated in Figure 18.24.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019
With some quick and careful digging, I exposed the bulk of it, though the large tetrahedron and the deflated balloons still lurked below the surface.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
One part copper, two parts vanadium and four parts sulfur, the alloy features a 3D pyrochlore lattice consisting of corner-sharing tetrahedra.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 29, 2024
In nearly all silicates, sp3-hybridized silicon atoms occur at the centers of tetrahedra with oxygen at the corners.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019
Its structure is highly polymeric and appears to contain three-dimensional networks of P4 tetrahedra joined by P-P single bonds.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019
In mica structures, the silica tetrahedra are arranged in continuous sheets, where each tetrahedron shares three oxygen anions with adjacent tetrahedra.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
The smallest particles of fire are tetrahedra, of air octahedra, of water icosahedra.
From A Critical History of Greek Philosophy by Stace, W. T. (Walter Terence)
To precisely position the sensing components, the team built DNA tetrahedrons, which are small pyramid shaped nanostructures formed entirely from DNA.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 16, 2026
Off the shores of Long Beach, where sails could catch wind, a white fleet clustered around orange buoys shaped like tetrahedrons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2022
But Georgia-born Dylan Neuwirth’s sculptures have the weight of esoteric significance, like symbols you’d find in a medieval alchemy book: lines, circles, tetrahedrons in eerie blues and reds.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 26, 2018
“There is no me. . . . There are clusters of tetrahedrons moving around together. . . . We don’t matter.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 29, 2017
Almost touching them with their bases were an equal number of pyramids, of tetrahedrons, as sharply angled and of similar length.
From The Metal Monster by Merritt, Abraham
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.
