Meaning & use
rectangle
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Meaning
nouncountablemathematics
A flat shape with four straight sides and four right angles, with opposite sides equal.
Grammar: Takes a plural: the page is divided into three rectangles.
Patterns
- a rectangle of something
- the area of a rectangle
- draw a rectangle
A standard sheet of paper is close to a rectangle.
The garden was a long rectangle beside the house.
Students drew a rectangle and labeled its length and width.
Word forms
| plural | rectangles |
|---|
Common combinations
- area of a rectangle
- To find the area of a rectangle, multiply its length by its width.
- right angles
- A rectangle has four right angles, even when the sides are not all equal.
- opposite sides
- In every rectangle, opposite sides are equal and parallel.
- square rectangle
- A square is a special rectangle because all four sides are equal.
Word family
- rectangular adjective
- Having the shape of a rectangle.
- rectangularly adverb
- In a rectangular way; uncommon in everyday speech.
Commonly confused: rectangle or square? rectangle or rectangular?
rectangle vs square
Every square is a rectangle with four equal sides, but not every rectangle is a square.
rectangle vs rectangular
Rectangle is the noun for the shape; rectangular is the adjective describing something shaped that way.
Practice
Which figure is always a rectangle?
Choose one answer.
The defining features are four sides and four right angles. A circle, triangle, and pentagon do not have four right angles, so they cannot be rectangles.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rectangle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.