TRIANGLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Triangle mean? 

• TRIANGLE (noun)
  The noun TRIANGLE has 5 senses:

1. a three-sided polygon

2. something approximating the shape of a triangle

3. a small northern constellation near Perseus between Andromeda and Aries

4. any of various triangular drafting instruments used to draw straight lines at specified angles

5. a percussion instrument consisting of a metal bar bent in the shape of an open triangle

  Familiarity information: TRIANGLE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRIANGLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A three-sided polygon

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

triangle; trigon; trilateral

Hypernyms ("triangle" is a kind of...):

polygon; polygonal shape (a closed plane figure bounded by straight sides)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "triangle"):

acute-angled triangle; acute triangle (a triangle whose interior angles are all acute)

equiangular triangle; equilateral triangle (a three-sided regular polygon)

isosceles triangle (a triangle with two equal sides)

oblique triangle (a triangle that contains no right angle)

obtuse-angled triangle; obtuse triangle (a triangle that contains an obtuse interior angle)

right-angled triangle; right triangle (a triangle with one right angle)

scalene triangle (a triangle with no two sides of equal length)

cuneus; wedge; wedge shape (any shape that is triangular in cross section)

Derivation:

triangular (having three sides)

triangular (having three angles; forming or shaped like a triangle)

triangulate (survey by triangulation)

triangulate (divide into triangles or give a triangular form to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something approximating the shape of a triangle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Context example:

the coastline of Chile and Argentina and Brazil forms two legs of a triangle

Hypernyms ("triangle" is a kind of...):

form; shape (the spatial arrangement of something as distinct from its substance)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A small northern constellation near Perseus between Andromeda and Aries

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Triangle; Triangulum

Instance hypernyms:

constellation (a configuration of stars as seen from the earth)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Any of various triangular drafting instruments used to draw straight lines at specified angles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("triangle" is a kind of...):

drafting instrument (an instrument used by a draftsman in making drawings)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A percussion instrument consisting of a metal bar bent in the shape of an open triangle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("triangle" is a kind of...):

percussion instrument; percussive instrument (a musical instrument in which the sound is produced by one object striking another)

 Context examples 

The head is broad and shaped like a blunt triangle.

(Akita, NCI Thesaurus)

IUCD can be a coil, loop, triangle, or T in shape; its material can be impregnated with a pharmaceutical agent.

(Intrauterine device, NCI Thesaurus)

An IUCD can be a coil, loop, triangle, or T in shape; its material can be impregnated with a pharmaceutical agent.

(Intrauterine device, NICHD)

The erect ears are equilateral triangles.

(Belgian Tervuren, NCI Thesaurus)

Built directly in the eyes of the schooner, it was of the shape of a triangle, along the three sides of which stood the bunks, in double-tier, twelve of them.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

An area of grey matter in the thoracic region of the spinal cord forming a laterally projecting triangle from the center of either side of the spinal cord.

(Lateral Horn of the Spinal Cord, NCI Thesaurus)

A triangular area containing the hypoglossal nucleus on either side of the dorsal median sulcus and superior to the vagal triangle.

(Hypoglossal Triangle, NCI Thesaurus)

In the first course, there was a shoulder of mutton cut into an equilateral triangle, a piece of beef into a rhomboides, and a pudding into a cycloid.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Finally, I closed the door of the zareba, lit three separate fires in a triangle, and having eaten a hearty supper dropped off into a profound sleep, from which I had a strange and most welcome awakening.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The moon had risen higher, and floating in the Sound was a triangle of silver scales, trembling a little to the stiff, tinny drip of the banjoes on the lawn.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)