gnomon

[ noh-mon ]
See synonyms for gnomon on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the raised part of a sundial that casts the shadow; a style.

  2. an early astronomical instrument consisting of a vertical shaft, column, or the like, for determining the altitude of the sun or the latitude of a position by measuring the length of its shadow cast at noon.

  1. Geometry. (formerly) the part of a parallelogram that remains after a similar parallelogram has been taken away from one of its corners.

Origin of gnomon

1
1540–50; <Latin gnōmōn pin of a sundial <Greek gnṓmōn literally, interpreter, discerner

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use gnomon in a sentence

  • His 1985 novel Masters of Atlantis concerns the plight of the Gnomons, a group dedicated to sharing the mysteries of Atlantis.

  • It was foolish to do so, but I could not rest until I had gone to the Gnomons to see.

    Pharaoh's Broker | Ellsworth Douglass
  • Now, as I thought of it, I suddenly remembered my dream of being similarly smothered in the Gnomons by slowly inpouring grain.

    Pharaoh's Broker | Ellsworth Douglass
  • "We must continue to feed them all outside the city,—at the Gnomons, for instance," I suggested.

    Pharaoh's Broker | Ellsworth Douglass
  • From the series of gnomons for squares we easily deduce a formula for finding square numbers which are the sum of two squares.

British Dictionary definitions for gnomon

gnomon

/ (ˈnəʊmɒn) /


noun
  1. the stationary arm that projects the shadow on a sundial

  2. a geometric figure remaining after a parallelogram has been removed from one corner of a larger parallelogram

Origin of gnomon

1
C16: from Latin, from Greek: interpreter, from gignōskein to know

Derived forms of gnomon

  • gnomonic, adjective
  • gnomonically, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012