SYMMETRY • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Symmetry

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/sˈɪmətri/ Listen

noun

Symmetry n.

A due proportion of the several parts of a body to each other; adaptation of the form or dimensions of the several parts of a thing to each other; the union and conformity of the members of a work to the whole.

(Biol.) The law of likeness; similarity of structure; regularity in form and arrangement; orderly and similar distribution of parts, such that an animal may be divided into parts which are structurally symmetrical. Note: Bilateral symmetry, or two-sidedness, in vertebrates, etc., is that in which the body can be divided into symmetrical halves by a vertical plane passing through the middle; radial symmetry, as in echinoderms, is that in which the individual parts are arranged symmetrically around a central axis; serial symmetry, or zonal symmetry, as in earthworms, is that in which the segments or metameres of the body are disposed in a zonal manner one after the other in a longitudinal axis. This last is sometimes called metamerism.

(Bot.)

(a)

Equality in the number of parts of the successive circles in a flower.

(b)

Likeness in the form and size of floral organs of the same kind; regularity.

Axis of symmetry. (Geom.) See under Axis.

Respective symmetry, that disposition of parts in which only the opposite sides are equal to each other.

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Etymology of 'Symmetry'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Symmetry" Quotes from Famous Books

... it might be said further that even if the bee-cells did conform to the laws of crystallization as in the case of snow, or Buffon's soap-bubbles, or boiled peas, they show also in their general symmetry, in their well-determined angle of inclination, etc., that there are many other laws not followed by inert matter ...

— A Book of Natural History - Young Folks' Library Volume XIV. • Various

... also two streams of water, pure as the finest crystal, which ran to the right and left of the tent within the distance of an hundred yards, and which, shaded by trees skirting either side of the lawn, completed the symmetry ...

— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 11 • Robert Kerr

... were a need, to leap and bound. Verse was moulded by the feeling that inspired it; the melodies were like those of an Eolian harp, long-drawn or retracted as the wind swept or touched the strings. Symmetry was slighted; harmony was valued for its own sake and for its spiritual significance. Rich rhymes satisfied or surprised the ear, and the poet sometimes suffered through his curiosity as a virtuoso. By internal licences—the mobile cesura, ...

— A History of French Literature - Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II. • Edward Dowden

... seems) the dwellings of the workmen and managers busy with the neighbouring Illahun pyramid.[6] But the settlement is very small, covering less than 20 acres; it is not in itself a real town and its plan has not the scheme or symmetry of a town-plan. For that we must turn to western Asia, ...

— Ancient Town-Planning • F. Haverfield

... as he prolongs his examination and inspection, the pyramids gain upon him, their impressiveness increases. By the vastness of their mass, by the impression of solidity and durability which they produce, partly also, perhaps, by the symmetry and harmony of their lines and their perfect simplicity and freedom from ornament, they convey to the beholder a sense of grandeur and majesty, they produce within him a feeling of astonishment ...

— Ancient Egypt • George Rawlinson

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