hypotenuse

[ hahy-pot-n-oos, -yoos ]

nounGeometry.
  1. the side of a right triangle opposite the right angle.

Origin of hypotenuse

1
1565–75; earlier hypotenusa<Latin hypotēnūsa<Greek hypoteínousa (grámmē) subtending (line) (feminine present participle of hypoteínein to subtend), equivalent to hypo-hypo- + tein- stretch (see thin) + -ousa feminine present participle suffix

Words Nearby hypotenuse

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hypotenuse in a sentence

  • That’s because 65 happened to be the length of the hypotenuse for three distinct Pythagorean triples with legs that formed an arithmetic sequence.

    Can You Reach The Target Number? | Zach Wissner-Gross | April 1, 2022 | FiveThirtyEight
  • One week later he decided that he should have cupped his hands and shouted, "You hypotenuse hussy!"

    The Boy Grew Older | Heywood Broun
  • Mr. Isadore Binswanger inserted a toothpick between his lips and stretched his limbs out at a hypotenuse from the chair.

    Just Around the Corner | Fannie Hurst
  • Thus we demonstrate that the surface of a regular polygon may be found by multiplying the perimeter by half the hypotenuse.

  • First take out the two rectangles formed on the hypotenuse; place them in the two lateral grooves, and lower the triangle.

  • Presently he turned again, to return cross-lots along the hypotenuse of the triangle.

    Sudden Jim | Clarence Budington Kelland

British Dictionary definitions for hypotenuse

hypotenuse

/ (haɪˈpɒtɪˌnjuːz) /


noun
  1. the side in a right-angled triangle that is opposite the right angle: Abbreviation: hyp

Origin of hypotenuse

1
C16: from Latin hypotēnūsa, from Greek hupoteinousa grammē subtending line, from hupoteinein to subtend, from hypo- + teinein to stretch

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for hypotenuse

hypotenuse

[ hī-pŏtn-ōōs′ ]


  1. The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle. It is the longest side, and the square of its length is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for hypotenuse

hypotenuse

[ (heye-pot-n-oohs, heye-pot-n-yoohs) ]


In a right triangle (a triangle that has one right angle), the side opposite the right angle. (See Pythagorean theorem.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.