Meaning & use
geometric pattern
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Meanings
nouncountable
A design made of regular shapes such as circles, squares, triangles, or straight lines that repeat in a clear order.
Grammar: Countable, so you can say a geometric pattern or geometric patterns; it is often used after in or with.
Patterns
- a geometric pattern on something
- in a geometric pattern
- a geometric pattern of shapes
The tiles on the kitchen floor form a simple geometric pattern.
She chose wallpaper with a bold geometric pattern of triangles and squares.
The artist covered the wall in a geometric pattern of blue and gold lines.
nouncountabletechnical
A repeated arrangement of lines or shapes in mathematics or nature that follows fixed rules.
Grammar: Used in technical and academic writing, often with words like regular, repeating, or symmetrical.
Patterns
- a regular geometric pattern
- a repeating geometric pattern
- the geometric pattern of something
Snowflakes show a regular geometric pattern based on six-fold symmetry.
The study examined the geometric patterns formed by crystals as they cool.
Bees build their honeycombs in a geometric pattern of hexagons.
Word forms
| plural | geometric patterns |
|---|
Common combinations
- a bold geometric pattern
- The rug has a bold geometric pattern in black and white.
- a repeating geometric pattern
- The fabric is printed with a repeating geometric pattern.
- a geometric pattern of lines
- The facade is covered with a geometric pattern of thin metal lines.
- in a geometric pattern
- The seeds were arranged in a geometric pattern around the center.
- a simple geometric pattern
- Beginners often start by drawing a simple geometric pattern.
Synonyms and how they differ
- geometric design
- Very close in meaning, but design often suggests something created deliberately by a person, while pattern can also describe something found in nature.
- motif
- A motif is a single repeated image or shape, often decorative; a geometric pattern is the whole arrangement of such shapes.
- tessellation
- A tessellation is a special geometric pattern of shapes that fit together with no gaps or overlaps, so it is narrower in meaning.
Word family
- geometry noun
- The branch of mathematics that deals with points, lines, angles, and shapes.
- geometric adjective
- Relating to geometry or made of regular shapes and lines.
- geometrically adverb
- In a way that relates to geometry or follows geometric rules.
Commonly confused: geometric pattern or geometric progression?
geometric pattern vs geometric progression
A geometric progression is a sequence of numbers in mathematics, not a visual design; do not confuse the two phrases.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'geometric pattern' most naturally?
Choose one answer.
'Geometric pattern' is a countable noun phrase, so it fits after a preposition like 'in' as in option A. The other options use it as a verb, adjective, or subject of an action, which is not grammatical.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “geometric pattern”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.