1. Word Games
  2. Word of the Day
  3. New Words & Slang
  4. Video
 

dome

4 ENTRIES FOUND:
  1. dome (noun)
  2. Dome of the Rock
  3. salt dome (noun)
  4. Teapot Dome scandal

dome

/

A dome is traditionally supported primarily by a cylindrical or polygonal drum; it may be …—© Merriam-Webster Inc.

In architecture, a hemispherical structure evolved from the arch, forming a ceiling or roof. Domes first appeared on round huts and tombs in the ancient Middle East, India, and the Mediterranean in forms, such as solid mounds, adaptable only to the smallest buildings. The Romans introduced the large-scale masonry hemisphere. A dome exerts thrust all around its perimeter, and the earliest monumental examples (see Pantheon) required heavy supporting walls. Byzantine architects invented a technique for raising domes on piers, making the transition from a cubic base to the hemisphere by four pendentives. Bulbous or pointed domes were widely used in Islamic architecture. The design spread to Russia, where it gained great popularity in the form of the onion dome, a pointed, domelike roof structure. The modern geodesic dome, developed by R. Buckminster Fuller, is fabricated of lightweight triangular framing that distributes stresses within the structure itself.

This entry comes from Encyclopædia Britannica Concise.
For the full entry on dome, visit Britannica.com.

Learn More About DOME

Seen & Heard

What made you look up dome? Please tell us what you were reading, watching or discussing that led you here.

Test Your Vocabulary

Take Our 10-Question Quiz

Name That Thing

Take our visual vocab quiz

Test Your Knowledge »

True or False?

A quick quiz about stuff worth knowing

Take It Now »

Join Us on FB & Twitter

Get the Word of the Day and More

Facebook | Twitter

Get Our Free Apps

Voice Search, Favorites,
Word of the Day, and More

iPhone | iPad | Android | More