conic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   of, relating to, or shaped like a cone

   The architect capped the tower with a conic roof.

2. 2
   noun

   geometry: a curve formed by intersecting a plane with a cone, such as a circle, ellipse, parabola, or hyperbola

   The equation represents a conic whose graph is an ellipse.

A learned borrowing from Greek konikos, 'of a cone,' from konos, 'cone.' Geometry uses the noun as a shortening of conic section, one of the curves produced when a plane cuts a cone.

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