Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A quadrilateral having two parallel sides.
- n. A small bone in the wrist, situated near the base of the index finger.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In anthropology, a type of cranium with somewhat flattened vertex and basal region which are approximately in parallel planes.
- Having the shape of a trapezoid. See II., 1.
- n. In geometry, a plane four-sided figure having two of its opposite sides parallel, and the other two not so.
- n. In anatomy and zoology, the trapezoid bone, one of the bones of the wrist, so called from its shape; the second one of the distal row of carpal bones, on the radial or thumb side, between the trapezium and the magnum, in special relation with the head of the second metacarpal bone; carpale II. of the typical carpus. Also called multangulum minus, and trapezoides, trapezoideum. See cuts under Artiodactyla, pisiform, hand, and scapholunar.
Wiktionary
- n. geometry A (convex) quadrilateral with two (non-adjacent) parallel sides.
- n. anatomy The trapezoid bone of the wrist.
- n. geometry, UK, obsolete A convex quadrilateral with no sides parallel and no equal sides.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Geom.) A plane four-sided figure, having two sides parallel to each other.
- n. (Anat.) A bone of the carpus at the base of the second metacarpal, or index finger.
- adj. Having the form of trapezoid; trapezoidal.
- adj. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the trapezoid ligament.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a quadrilateral with two parallel sides
- n. the wrist bone between the trapezium and the capitate bones
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek τραπέζιον ("irregular quadrilateral", literally "a little table") + -oid ("resembling"). (Wiktionary)
- New Latin trapezoīdēs, from Greek trapezoeidēs, trapezium-shaped : trapeza, table; see trapezium + -oeidēs, -oid. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It consists of two fasciculi, called the trapezoid and conoid ligaments.”
“No, one of the more important things is what's being left behind, namely the trapezoid lane, which was adopted by FIBA in 1956 and took its final bow in this tourney.”
“I imagined that a table has its top parallel to the floor and maybe that's why this geometrical shape was called a trapezoid, but I was wrong.”
podictionary - for word lovers - dictionary etymology, trivia & history
“A trapezoid is a four sided object that has two parallel sides, having parallel sides means that two of the sides must be equal, therefore it does not have FOUR unequal sides.”
“I don't have a bone in this fight because I didn't enter this quiz, but I think "trapezoid" or "trapezium" (British) are better answers for #11.”
“Some womb was yelling about the trapezoid in the streetlight.”
“They burnt her for the yeoman of the trapezoid in the landfall.”
“Sometimes the image froze and it seemed like the designer was underwater, other times it was easy to make out Mr. Kriemler's assessment of the "trapezoid crystals that reminded me of broken ice crystals on a lake" that served as an outfit's epaulettes.”
The Wall Street Journal: Bergdorf Trunk Show Enters Cyberspace
“It was a trapezoid covering a large portion of Los Altos.”
“Which is why it is quite stunning that this huge empire -- so cleverly organized with its 30 % taxation system, its brilliant system of messenger service (covering 25,000 miles of roads) and its awesome edifices of sturdy rocks (each irregular or trapezoid slab fits perfectly against the other, with no cement) disappeared so quickly, when the Spanish came with guns.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘trapezoid’.
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shapes
words for shape
( randomness, visual. descriptive )triangular, conical, round, broad, congruous, hexagonal, globular, curved, oval, rectangular, parallel, crumpled and 142 more...
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G[r]eek
A collection of words found in English that are either purely Greek or have Greek etymology.
Please add with caution and certainty. Will be regularly updated by me.etymology, philosophy, laconic, disharmony, patriarchic, archaic, phlogiston, aether, aeon, angel, arachnid, rhythm and 346 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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It's a trap
trap, gin, snare, deadfall, trapezium, trapezoid, trappist, venus flytrap, foothold trap, trapping pit, glue trap, trap set and 98 more...
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Your Mission: Find theTraps
List of words that contain the letter string *trap*. Some are obvious and apparent, such as trapezoid, while others are a bit less apparent, such as contrapuntist, ultraphysical, and intraperitoneal.
trapezoid, contrapuntist, wentletrap, allotetraploid, bootstrap, caltrap, unstrap, Trappist, ultraphysical, trapline, Trapt, autotetraploidy and 195 more...
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-oids
words taking the suffix -oid. because i wanted to use the word zomboid as in "having the likeness of a zombie". and yes, flavenoids is adopted. we'll tell her when she's older...
zomboid, rhomboid, planetoid, factoid, humanoid, asteroid, trapezoid, alkaloid, android, voidoid, woidies, metroid and 22 more...
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Various Traps
fixed-gear weirs, purse seiners, mid-water trawlers, lobster pot, mousetrap, 419 scam, buffalo jump, venus flytrap, sticky paper, deadfall, pitfall, catch 22 and 39 more...
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LWC's Words
spork, heteroskedasticity, kurtosis, eigenspace, smithian, skewness, montanan, whoremonger, mellifluous, fishwife, papist, romanist and 142 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Junk
walrus, fascination, broadway, fickle, downturn, bridge, gargle, rotunda, mesh, fab, shortlife, strumming and 304 more...
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curligirli0's Words
crapulous, swish, shiatsu, zen, xenoglossy, nincompoop, loquacious, pianissimo, onomatopoeia, imperturbable, silky, hosanas and 379 more...
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-oid
denoting resemblance
factoid, rhomboid, asteroid, anthropoid, android, spheroid, trapezoid, trapezoidal
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words I like for one reason or another
nostalgia, corgi, ambiguous, anachronistic, bamboozled, eloquent, emporium, sacrosanct, nascent, obfuscate, miscellaneous, kaleidoscopic and 113 more...
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use•ful
palmary, glossolalia, bothum, high-proof, synesthesia, odious, autochthonous, yawp, mordacious, dynamo, dishevel, titely and 414 more...
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merfee's Words
supple, dichotomy, relish, rhapsody, pneumonoultramicr..., embrace, ishmael, ebullient, recalcitrant, elegy, char, lugubrious and 522 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for trapezoid.

atapizdun trapezium and trapezoid have opposite meanings in American and British English:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Trapezium.html Dec 1, 2011