geometric

From Latin geōmetricus, from Ancient Greek γεωμετρικός (geōmetrikós), from γεωμέτρης (geōmétrēs).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌdʒiː.əʊˈmɛt.ɹɪk/, /ˌdʒi.əˈmɛt.ɹɪk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌdʒi.oʊˈmɛt.ɹɪk/, /ˌdʒi.əˈmɛt.ɹɪk/

geometric (comparative more geometric, superlative most geometric)

1. Of or relating to geometry.

   The architect used geometric techniques to design her home.

   • 1662, [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: Printed by T[homas] N[ewcomb] for John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, OCLC 890163163; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: At the University Press, 1905, OCLC 963614346, page 6:

     In Mathematicks he was greater / Than Tycho Brahe, or Erra Pater : / For he, by Geometrick scale, / Could take the size of Pots of Ale ; / Resolve by Signs and Tangents streight, / If Bread or Butter wanted weight; / And wisely tell what hour o’th’ day / The Clock doth strike, by Algebra.

   • 1990, Stamos Metzidakis, “The Utopian Vision of French Criticism”, in Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures, volume 44, number 3, DOI:10.1080/00397709.1990.10733714, page 195:

     This does not mean that the French, works, composed by rational minds (de l’esprit) are totally devoid of any value or cultural significance. But Madame de Staël obviously prefers what she considers to be the imaginative workings of the German mind to the geometric and analytical penchants of the French mind.

2. Increasing or decreasing in a geometric progression.

   Bacteria exhibit geometric increase in numbers when the environment is not limiting.

   • 1990 April 21, Flora Lewis, “Tide Reaching Africa”, in The New York Times, page 23:

     The men around the table were by no means dissidents, but neither can they turn their countries around on their own. Of course, the vast problems in Africa cannot be solved by African policies alone. Poverty breeds poverty by geometric progression.

3. Using simple shapes such as circles, triangles, and lines in a decorative object.

   The building's profile was strikingly geometric.

• (of or relating to geometry): geometrical
• (using simple shapes): geometrical

• geometer
• geometrical
• geometrically
• geometry