aperiodic

adjective

ape·​ri·​od·​ic ˌā-ˌpir-ē-ˈä-dik How to pronounce aperiodic (audio)
1
: of irregular occurrence : not periodic
aperiodic floods
2
: not having periodic vibrations : not oscillatory
aperiodically adverb

Examples of aperiodic in a Sentence

released aperiodic reports on the results of their cancer research
Recent Examples on the Web So, very much not an aperiodic monotile of the plane, but an aperiodic monotile of an incredibly high-dimensional space. Quanta Magazine, 3 July 2024 To me, that legitimizes the hat as a true aperiodic monotile, although spectres are still interesting for their ability to avoid reflections. Aaron Shattuck, Scientific American, 16 Apr. 2024 Interest turned into fascination when Boyle mentioned a special property of aperiodic tilings: local indistinguishability. Ben Brubaker, WIRED, 17 Mar. 2024 Landmark results in Ramsey theory and a remarkably simple aperiodic tile capped a year of mathematical delight and discovery. Quanta Magazine, 22 Dec. 2023 The question of whether an aperiodic monotile exists has been called the einstein problem. Craig S. Kaplan, Scientific American, 14 Dec. 2023 Although Berger and others were able to bring down the size of these aperiodic sets significantly, in the mid-1970s Roger Penrose captured the world’s attention by discovering very small sets of his own aperiodic tiles. Quanta Magazine, 30 Oct. 2023 Mathematicians have proved that this hierarchical structure means the tiling can't be split into repeating sections and thus must be aperiodic. Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 22 June 2023 The search for an aperiodic monotile appears to have come to an end. Quanta Magazine, 23 May 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'aperiodic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1870, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of aperiodic was in 1870

Dictionary Entries Near aperiodic

Cite this Entry

“Aperiodic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aperiodic. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.

Medical Definition

aperiodic

adjective
ape·​ri·​od·​ic ˌā-ˌpir-ē-ˈäd-ik How to pronounce aperiodic (audio)
1
: of irregular occurrence
2
: not having periodic vibrations : not oscillatory
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