Rectangle Meaning
/ˈrɛktæŋɡl̩/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounAny quadrilateral having opposing sides parallel and four right angles.
nounSuch a quadrilateral that is oblong (longer than it is wide): one that is not regular (equilateral), that is, any except a square.
Sentence Examples
The opposite sides of a rectangle are parallel.
A square is one type of rectangle, and a rectangle is one type of parallelogram.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The artist drew a ____ on the paper with four right angles and opposite sides equal.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The garden was laid out in a perfect ____, with flower beds along each of the four sides.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French, from Old French, from Medieval Latin or Late Latin rectangulum (“right angle”), from Latin rectus (“right”) + angulus (“an angle”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"For why should you praise, for example, the integrity of a Square who faithfully defends the interests of his client, when you ought in reality rather to admire the exact precision of his Rectangles?"
— 1884, A Square [pseudonym; Edwin A. Abbott], Flatland […] , London: Seeley & Co., Part I: This World, § 12.— Of the Doctrine of our Priests, page 46:
"In Lines it [the product] is always (and ſometimes in Numbers) call'd the Rectangle between the two Lines, multiply'd by one another."
— 1728, E[phraim] Chambers, “Product”, in Cyclopædia: Or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; […] In Two Volumes, volumes II (I–Z), London: […] James and John Knapton [et al.], →OCLC, page 886, column 1:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The artist drew a ____ on the paper with four right angles and opposite sides equal.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The garden was laid out in a perfect ____, with flower beds along each of the four sides.