Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word isosceles. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word isosceles, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say isosceles in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word isosceles you have here. The definition of the word isosceles will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofisosceles, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
1693, Abel Swall, transl., The New Method of Fortification, as Practised by Monsieur de Vavban, Engineer General of France, 2nd edition, "A New Treatise of Fortification", page 96:
Upon each exterior side draw an Isosceles Triangle of 480 Fathoms.
1914, Henry Parker Manning, Geometry of Four Dimensions, page 204:
A right double pyramid is isosceles when the extremities of the vertex-edge are at the same distance from the plane of the base.
1945, Harold E. Wolfe, Introduction to Non-Euclidean Geometry, page 31:
To prepare for the application of his method, Saccheri made use of a figure with which we are already acquainted. This is the isosceles quadrilateral with the two base angles right angles.
1965 April 8, Newton B. Dismukes, “Multihull vessels (Patent US3316873A)”, in Google Patents:
The polygon advantageously is an isosceles trapezoid or rectangle with the pivotal connections between the deck or superstructure and four hulls respectively at its corners.
2019 January 23, Altered Book Lover, “Funky Flowers”, in Blogspot:
The flowers were stuck inside a flower pot that was shaped like an isosceles polygon with a rectangular "edge."
Usage notes
A trapezoid with two equal sides and two unequal sides is normally described as unequilateral, even though it can be regarded as a special case of isosceles trapezoid.
A triangle with three equal sides is normally described as equilateral, even though it can be regarded as a special case of isosceles triangle.
1It is unknown if Classical Latin preserved (or would have preserved) the shortness of the original Greek short ending. 2It is unknown whether adjectives of this type would use i-stem or consonant-stem endings in Classical Latin: the relevant forms are not attested. Depending on the word, either ending or both may be attested in New Latin.
Notes:
The Greek masculine and feminine nominative singular is ἰσοσκελής(isoskelḗs), while the masculine and feminine vocative singular and the neuter nominative, accusative and vocative singular are ἰσοσκελές(isoskelés). Maybe Latin preserved the short length of the epsilon (ε), or maybe it did not so that the declension became similar to Latin third declension adjectives of one ending (like felix).