rectangle

/ˌrɛkˈtæŋgəl/

/ˈrɛkteɪŋgəl/

Other forms: rectangles

A rectangle is any shape with four sides and four right angles. All squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares (all the sides in a square have to be the same length).

The rect in rectangle comes from the Latin rectus, which means "right" or "straight." Because of its right angles, a rectangle has straight sides. Another word with the same root is rectitude, which means moral uprightness. A morally upright person is someone who does the right thing, but doing the right thing doesn't make you a square — or a rectangle.

Definitions of rectangle

1. noun

   a parallelogram with four right angles
   types:

   foursquare, square

   (geometry) a plane rectangle with four equal sides and four right angles; a four-sided regular polygon

   box

   a rectangular drawing

   quadrate

   a square-shaped object

   type of:

   parallelogram

   a quadrilateral whose opposite sides are both parallel and equal in length