parallelogram

[ par-uh-lel-uh-gram ]

noun

1. a quadrilateral having both pairs of opposite sides parallel to each other.

parallelogram

/ ˌpærəˈlɛləˌɡræm /

noun

1. a quadrilateral whose opposite sides are parallel and equal in length See also rhombus rectangle trapezium trapezoid

parallelogram

/ păr′ə-lĕl′ə-grăm′ /

1. A four-sided plane figure with opposite sides parallel. Rhombuses and rectangles are parallelograms.

Other Words From

• par·al·lel·o·gram·mat·ic [par-, uh, -lel-, uh, -gr, uh, -, mat, -ik], paral·lelo·gram·mati·cal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of parallelogram¹

First recorded in 1560–70; from Late Latin parallēlogrammum, from Greek parallēlógrammon; equivalent to parallel + -o- + -gram ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of parallelogram¹

C16: via French from Late Latin, from Greek parallēlogrammon, from parallēlos parallel + grammē line, related to graphein to write

Example Sentences

During those experiments, Schwartz cut open a Möbius band and realized, “Oh, my God, it’s not the parallelogram. It’s a trapezoid.”

From Scientific American

They could arrange four hat tiles into a hexagonlike structure, two tiles into a pentagon and another combination of two tiles into a parallelogram.

From Scientific American

Two classes of shapes work, they proved: “boring parallelograms” and “surprising cyclic quadrilaterals,” cyclic meaning that all vertexes of a quadrilateral lie on a circle.

From New York Times

Now, we have to get it square since at this point it’s probably a parallelogram, not a right rectangle!

From Seattle Times

In the tiling of colored dots representing where the rat was when each grid cell fired, four neighboring red dots formed the corners of a slanted rectangle known as a parallelogram.

From Scientific American

Related Words

• square