Meaning & use
triangle
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Meanings
nouncountablemathematics
A flat shape with three straight sides and three corners.
Grammar: Countable: draw a triangle, two triangles.
Patterns
- a triangle with something
- form a triangle
The teacher asked us to draw a triangle with two equal sides.
The roof beams form a triangle that keeps the structure rigid.
Cut the sandwich into a triangle if you want it to look neat.
nouncountablemusic
A small percussion instrument made of a metal rod bent into a triangle and struck with a thin metal stick.
Grammar: As an instrument it is played, struck or tapped: play the triangle.
Patterns
- play the triangle
The youngest student played the triangle in the school orchestra.
A single note on the triangle ended the piece softly.
The triangle rang out above the quiet strings.
nouncountablefigurative
A situation involving three people or groups whose relationships with each other are tense or complicated.
Grammar: Usually a compound: love triangle, or a triangle of power.
Patterns
- a love triangle
- a triangle of something
The novel centers on a love triangle between two brothers and a neighbor.
Diplomats worked to stop the dispute turning into a triangle of rival powers.
She felt stuck in a triangle of loyalty between her boss and two coworkers.
Word forms
| plural | triangles |
|---|
Common combinations
- right triangle
- A right triangle has one square corner.
- equilateral triangle
- Every side of an equilateral triangle has the same length.
- draw a triangle
- Draw a triangle and label each angle.
- love triangle
- The soap opera's love triangle lasted three seasons.
- warning triangle
- He set a warning triangle behind the broken-down car.
Synonyms and how they differ
- trigon
- Trigon is an old and rare word for a triangle, found in older geometry or astrology but not in modern speech.
- threesome
- Threesome names any group of three, while a triangle in the relationship sense implies tension among them.
Word family
- triangular adjective
- shaped like a triangle, or involving three parts
- triangulate verb
- to find a location by using angles from two or more known points
- triangulation noun
- the process of fixing a position using triangles
- trigonometry noun
- the branch of mathematics that studies triangles and their angles
Commonly confused: triangle or triangular?
triangle vs triangular
Triangle is the noun and triangular is the adjective: a triangle sign, but a triangular sign.
Practice
The two friends and their new coworker were caught in a tense love ___.
Choose one answer.
Love triangle is the usual noun phrase. Triangular is an adjective, and tripod is a three-legged stand.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “triangle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.