polygon

noun

poly·​gon ˈpä-lē-ˌgän 

1

: a closed plane figure bounded by straight lines

2

: a closed figure on a sphere bounded by arcs of great circles

polygonal

pə-ˈli-gə-nᵊl 

adjective

polygonally

pə-ˈli-gə-nᵊl-ē 

adverb

Examples of polygon in a Sentence

Pentagons, hexagons, and octagons are all kinds of polygons.

Recent Examples on the Web

But, the board also moved to include two polygons, 268 and 1,268, in the plan to now shuffle 24 middle school students from Harper's Choice Middle School to Wilde Lake Middle School to increase the school feed. —Dennis Valera, CBS News, 20 Nov. 2025

Radiolarian skeletons are typically constructed of an orderly mesh of rigid polygons. —Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025

Eventually, the algorithm produced the Noperthedron, which is made of 150 triangles and two regular 15-sided polygons. —Erica Klarreich, Quanta Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025

At Saturn’s north pole, a colossal jet stream naturally organizes into a six-sided polygon, big enough to fit two Earths across. —Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 4 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Late Latin polygōnum, borrowed from Greek polýgōnon, from poly- poly- + -gōnon -gon

First Known Use

circa 1560, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing polygon

• spherical polygon

Rhymes for polygon

• aileron
• antiphon
• autobahn
• carillon
• castellan
• celadon
• cephalon
• chitosan
• cynodon
• denouement
• deuteron
• echelon

Kids Definition

polygon

noun

poly·​gon ˈpäl-i-ˌgän 

: a geometric figure that is closed, that lies in a plane, and whose edges are all straight lines

triangles, squares, and pentagons are all polygons

polygonal

pə-ˈlig-ən-ᵊl 

adjective