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SYMMETRY
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(physics) the property of being isotropic; having the same value when measured in different directions
Synonyms:
isotropy; symmetry
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("symmetry" is a kind of...):
property (a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class)
Domain category:
natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(mathematics) an attribute of a shape or relation; exact reflection of form on opposite sides of a dividing line or plane
Synonyms:
balance; correspondence; symmetricalness; symmetry
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("symmetry" is a kind of...):
spatial property; spatiality (any property relating to or occupying space)
Domain category:
math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "symmetry"):
geometrical regularity; regularity (a property of polygons: the property of having equal sides and equal angles)
bilateral symmetry; bilateralism; bilaterality (the property of being symmetrical about a vertical plane)
radial symmetry (the property of symmetry about an axis)
Antonym:
asymmetry ((mathematics) a lack of symmetry)
Derivation:
symmetric (having similarity in size, shape, and relative position of corresponding parts)
symmetrise; symmetrize (make symmetric)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Balance among the parts of something
Synonyms:
proportion; symmetry
Classified under:
Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes
Hypernyms ("symmetry" is a kind of...):
balance; counterbalance; equilibrium; equipoise (equality of distribution)
Derivation:
symmetric (having similarity in size, shape, and relative position of corresponding parts)
symmetrise; symmetrize (make symmetric)
Context examples:
A species of enveloped, spherical or pleomorphic viruses with a capsid with T=4 icosahedral symmetry in the Togaviridae family and Alphavirus genus.
(Barmah Forest Virus, NCI Thesaurus)
The structure of the shell is icosahedral with either helical or complex symmetry.
(Capsid Protein, NCI Thesaurus)
A measure of the degree of geometrical symmetry in the structure of the nanotube.
(Nanotube Chirality, NCI Thesaurus)
A species of non-enveloped, spherical viruses with an icosahedral symmetry of triple capsid structure in the Reoviridae family and Coltivirus genus.
(Colorado Tick Fever Virus, NCI Thesaurus)
A class of unsegmented helminths with fundamental bilateral symmetry and secondary triradiate symmetry of the oral and esophageal structures.
(Nematoda, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
A species of enveloped and spherical viruses with a capsid with T=3 icosahedral symmetry in the Flaviviridae family and Flavivirus genus.
(Dengue Virus, NCI Thesaurus)
We expected more symmetry between the southern and northern summer, said Elizabeth Turtle of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab and the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) team that captured the image.
(Cassini's Final View of Titan's Northern Lakes and Seas, NASA)
One was old, with silver hairs and a countenance beaming with benevolence and love; the younger was slight and graceful in his figure, and his features were moulded with the finest symmetry, yet his eyes and attitude expressed the utmost sadness and despondency.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
I had often looked upon the mighty arms and neck of the smith, but I had never before seen him stripped to the waist, or understood the marvellous symmetry of development which had made him in his youth the favourite model of the London sculptors.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
