Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Having three sides: Describes a shape or figure that is bounded by three straight lines.
   • Having three angles: Describes a shape or figure that contains three angles, typically where three sides meet.
   • Shaped like a triangle: Having the form or outline of a triangle, a polygon with three sides and three angles.
   • Involving three parties or elements: Pertaining to a situation, relationship, or conflict involving three distinct parties.

Examples of Usage

• Describing a shape:
  • The garden was designed with a triangular flower bed in the center.
  • She cut the sandwich into triangular pieces.
• Describing a three-party situation:
  • The trade agreement created a triangular relationship between the three countries.
  • The novel explores a triangular love affair between the main characters.

Advanced Usage

• "Triangular trade": A historical term for a multilateral system of trading in which a country pays for its imports from one country by its exports to another.
  • The triangular trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas was a cornerstone of the colonial economy.
• "Triangular number": A number that can be represented as a triangular grid of points where each row contains one more item than the row above.
  • Ten is a triangular number because it can be arranged in a triangle with four rows (1+2+3+4).

Variants and Related Words

• Triangle (n): A polygon with three edges and three vertices.
  • The roof was supported by a sturdy triangle of beams.
• Triangularly (adv): In a triangular manner or form.
  • The crystals were arranged triangularly under the microscope.

Synonyms

• Trilateral: Having three sides.
• Three-cornered: Having three corners or angles.
• Three-sided: Having three sides.

Related Phrases

• Triangular prism: A three-sided prism; a polyhedron made of a triangular base, a translated copy, and three faces joining corresponding sides.
  • A triangular prism has two congruent triangular bases and three rectangular faces.
• Triangular matrix: In mathematics, a special kind of square matrix where all the entries above or below the main diagonal are zero.
  • Solving the linear system was easier because the coefficient matrix was triangular.

Adjective

1. having three sides
   • a trilateral figure
2. having three angles; forming or shaped like a triangle
   • a triangular figure
   • a triangular pyrimid has a triangle for a base