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Definition of pentagon - 7 dictionary results

pen⋅ta⋅gon

  [pen-tuh-gon]
Use pentagon in a Sentence
–noun
1. a polygon having five angles and five sides.
2. the Pentagon,
a. a building in Arlington, Virginia, having a plan in the form of a regular pentagon, containing most U.S. Defense Department offices.
b. the U.S. Department of Defense; the U.S. military establishment.
Origin:
1560–70; < LL pentagōnum < Gk pentágōnon, n. use of neut. of pentágōnos five-angled. See penta-, -gon

Related forms:
pen⋅tag⋅o⋅nal  [pen-tag-uh-nl] , adjective
pen⋅tag⋅o⋅nal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pen·ta·gon   (pěn'tə-gŏn')   


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n.  
  1. A polygon having five sides and five interior angles.
  2. Pentagon A five-sided building near Washington, D.C., containing the U.S. Department of Defense and the offices of the U.S. Armed Forces. Used with the.

[Late Latin pentagōnum, from Greek pentagōnon : penta-, penta- + -gōnon, -gon.]
pen·tag'o·nal (pěn-tāg'ə-nəl) adj., pen·tag'o·nal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Pentagon

Pen"ta*gon\, n. [Gr. ?; ? (see Penta-) + gwni`a angle: cf. L. pentagonium, F. pentagone.] (Geom.) A plane figure having five angles, and, consequently, five sides; any figure having five angles.

Regular pentagon, a pentagon in which the angles are all equal, and the sides all equal.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : pentagon
Spanish: pentágono,
German: das Fünfeck,
Japanese: ５角形
More Translations »

Pentagon

An immense five-sided building in Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., that serves as headquarters for the Department of Defense.

Note: The term is often used to refer to the Department of Defense or the military: “The Pentagon agreed today to submit the modified weapons plan to the president.”
Note: The Pentagon was severely damaged by the September 11 attacks.

pentagon

A polygon having five sides.

Note: The Pentagon is a huge five-sided building near Washington, D.C., that contains offices of the Department of Defense.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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pentagon 
plane figure with five angles and five sides, 1570, from M.Fr. pentagone, from L.L. pentagonum "pentagon," from Gk. pentagonon, properly neut. of adj. pentagonos "five-angled," from pente "five" + gonia "angle" (see knee). The U.S. military headquarters Pentagon was completed 1942, so called for its shape; used allusively for "U.S. military leadership" from 1945.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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pentagon   (pěn'tə-gŏn')  Pronunciation Key 
A polygon having five sides.

pentagonal adjective (pěn-tāg'ə-nəl)
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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