Definitions

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

  • adjective Of or exhibiting symmetry.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In organic chemistry, noting compounds which contain atoms or groups at equal relative intervals in the molecule: thus, for example, chlorobenzene, which has the formula and ethylene chlorid, ClCH2.CH2C1, are both symmetrical compounds.
  • Well-proportioned in its parts; having its parts in due proportion as to dimensions; harmonious: as, a symmetrical building; his form was very symmetrical.
  • Composed of two parts whose geometrical relations to one another are those of a body and its image in a plane mirror, every element of form having a corresponding element upon the opposite side of a median or symmetral plane, upon one continued perpendicular to that plane and at the same distance from it: said also of each part relatively to the corresponding part: as, the right arm is symmetrical with the left.
  • In a weakened sense, in zoology, having similar parts in reversed repetition on the two sides of a median plane, or meson, through an axis of the body, generally the longitudinal. Not all the parts need so correspond, nor need those which do correspond be equal.
  • Composed of parts or determined by elements similarly related to one another, and either having no determinate order (as the three lines which by their junction form a summit of a cube) or else in regular cyclical order: said also of the parts in their mutual relation.
  • Specifically, in botany, of flowers, numerically regular; having the number of members the same in all the cycles or series of organs—that is, of sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels: same as isomerous, except that in a symmetrical flower there may be more than one set of the same kind of organs. Compare regular, a., 7.

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

  • adjective Involving or exhibiting symmetry; proportional in parts; having its parts in due proportion as to dimensions.
  • adjective (Biol.) Having the organs or parts of one side corresponding with those of the other; having the parts in two or more series of organs the same in number; exhibiting a symmetry. See Symmetry, 2.
  • adjective Having an equal number of parts in the successive circles of floral organs; -- said of flowers.
  • adjective Having a likeness in the form and size of floral organs of the same kind; regular.
  • adjective (Math.) Having a common measure; commensurable.
  • adjective Having corresponding parts or relations.

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

  • adjective Exhibiting symmetry; having harmonious or proportionate arrangement of parts; having corresponding parts or relations

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

  • adjective exhibiting equivalence or correspondence among constituents of an entity or between different entities
  • adjective having similarity in size, shape, and relative position of corresponding parts

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Thus to a four-dimensional being things which we call symmetrical do not differ at all except in position.

    The Fourth Dimension Simply Explained 1910

  • “The reason the Red Square remains so symmetrical is that there is no material that has interfered with the outflow, so it has preserved the symmetry it was born with,” Lloyd said.

    Discovery of the Red Square Nebula | Impact Lab 2007

  • The big reason as another person mentioned above that our connections are not symmetrical is because the net providers don't want you to run servers and cut out their profitable commercial web services and because the media conglomerates are very powerful on this continent and they don't want to risk too many lawsuits.

    Why are download speeds faster than upload speeds? | Sync Blog 2007

  • A few of them had already come ashore and were beginning to spread out their nets in symmetrical patterns on the hot flags of the quay.

    Try Anything Twice 1938

  • On the brackets stand arrayed the most exquisite and costly articles of glass and china, in symmetrical order.

    Memoirs of an Arabian Princess 1907

  • A day or two afterward I was stringing beads of different sizes in symmetrical groups – two large beads, three small ones, and so on.

    The Story of My Life Annie Sullivan 1905

  • The inscriptions, instead of being grouped wherever there happened to be space, and so producing the richest form of wall-decoration ever devised by man, are disposed in symmetrical columns, the effect of which, when compared with the florid style of Karnak, is as the methodical neatness of an engrossed deed to the splendid freedom of an illuminated manuscript.

    A Thousand Miles Up the Nile 1891

  • The eight predictions are in symmetrical stanzas, each prefaced by "Thus saith the Lord."

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • The free-traders refer with especial emphasis to what the term the symmetrical development of all the great interests of the country under this liberal tariff.

    Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860 James Gillespie Blaine 1861

  • But Marcus du Sautoy offers to name a symmetrical object in hyperspace for you.

    math 2010

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