Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Conical.
  • noun A conic section.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having the form of a cone; circular at the base and tapering to a point; conical.
  • Specifically, in mathematics, of or pertaining to a cone: as, conic sections.
  • noun A conic section (which see, under I.); a plane curve of the second order and second class, or the equation to such a curve.
  • noun plural See conics.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Math.) A conic section.
  • adjective Having the form of, or resembling, a geometrical cone; round and tapering to a point, or gradually lessening in circumference.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to a cone.
  • adjective (Geom.) a curved line formed by the intersection of the surface of a right cone and a plane. The conic sections are the parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola. The right lines and the circle which result from certain positions of the plane are sometimes, though not generally included.
  • adjective that branch of geometry which treats of the parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola.
  • adjective See Pendulum.
  • adjective a method of delineating the surface of a sphere upon a plane surface as if projected upon the surface of a cone; -- much used by makers of maps in Europe.
  • adjective (Geom.) a surface described by a right line moving along any curve and always passing through a fixed point that is not in the plane of that curve.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective conical.
  • noun geometry A conic section.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective relating to or resembling a cone
  • noun (geometry) a curve generated by the intersection of a plane and a circular cone

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin cōnicus, from Greek kōnikos, from kōnos, cone; see kō- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek κωνικός (konikos)

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Examples

  • The curve which represents with perfect fidelity the movements of a planet in its revolution around the sun belongs to that well-known group of curves which mathematicians describe as the conic sections.

    The Story of the Heavens 1876

  • The intersection of a plane with this object forms an important set of two dimensional curves, called the conic sections.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • As a math teacher, I find it difficult each year to teach certain topics such as conic sections that have very little practical use, but must be covered because the “test makers” determine them to be part of the core curriculum.

    Obama Wants to Pay Teachers What They’re Worth - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com 2007

  • “Emma,” Nima said, “the answer to your conic geometry question—which is my specialty—is ninety times pi.”

    Times Squared Julia DeVillers 2011

  • I really didn't know about the safety rule2009, but, for some extrange reason Buenos Aires and Lima use the same conic idea of fun.

    Chris Burden's Urban Light (link roundup) 2009

  • You probably feel at times like a chord of a conic section that passes through a focus and is parallel to the directrix, but know for certain that the phonemic differences between allormorphs of the same morpheme is supported by the idea that the quantitative measurement of many characters to the determination of taxa and to the construction of diagrams indicating systematic changes can make or break us.

    Trisomy Jeffrey S. Callico 2011

  • Apollonius of Perga was a Greek geometer and astronomer noted for his writings on conic sections.

    Archive 2009-03-01 Jonathan Aquino 2009

  • “Emma,” Nima said, “the answer to your conic geometry question—which is my specialty—is ninety times pi.”

    Times Squared Julia DeVillers 2011

  • Apollonius of Perga was a Greek geometer and astronomer noted for his writings on conic sections.

    Capsule Summaries of the Great Books of the Western World Jonathan Aquino 2009

  • Chicago already played host to another oversize work created by Mr. Johnson: a 25-foot rendering of Grant Wood's—wait for it— i conic "American Gothic."

    Simpsons Syndrome: Overused Cultural Icons Trigger a Gag Reflex Eric Felten 2011

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