square
Forms
- Plural
- squares
- Comparative
- squarer
- Superlative
- squarest
Definitions
1.A polygon with four straight sides of equal length and four right angles; an equilateral rectangle; a regular quadrilateral.
- I took refuge in the square form and exhibited a picture which consisted of nothing more than a black square on a white field.
2.An L- or T-shaped tool used to place objects or draw lines at right angles.
- There are so many uses for the square, in fact, that a new model will usually come complete with a booklet enumerating its applications.
3.Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form.
- You may not move a piece to a square already occupied by one of your own pieces.
4.An open space or park, often in the center of a town, not necessarily square in shape, often containing trees, seating and other features pleasing to the eye.
- The statue of Alexander the Seventh stands in the large square of the town.
- You're not in Wisconsin, Dave. The big story isn't about a cow wandering into the town square.
1.Forming a right angle (90°).
- The foundation has to be level and the framing has to be square.
- The stacks had to be neat and square or the old guy grumbled and insisted on getting it just so.
- Take care to make the cut completely square to the edges of the wire to give a good butt join for the ends of the wire.
2.Used in the names of units of area formed by multiplying a unit of length by itself.
- A floor that measures 4 feet square has an area of 16 square feet.
3.Honest; straightforward; fair.
- I'm just looking for a square deal on my car repair.
- Why, you would not be boosing till lightman's in a square crib like mine, as if you were in a flash panny?
4.Shaped like a square (the polygon).
- The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, […].
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2417
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra.