tessellate

verb

tes·​sel·​late ˈte-sə-ˌlāt 

tessellated; tessellating

transitive verb

: to form into or adorn with mosaic

Examples of tessellate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Gardner reported that the classification of all tessellating convex polygons had been completed by a 1968 proof that claimed to have found the remaining convex pentagons that tile the plane. —Quanta Magazine, 11 July 2017

Streaks of rose gold exactly match my Aperol spritz, and sunset tessellates a path all the way to shore. —Frances Mayes, National Geographic, 11 July 2019

Black walls and thick charcoal carpet were brightened by tessellating series of slim white stripes, while the door and closet popped in bright chartreuse. —Debra Kamin, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2018

Or the bandeirinhas could be tessellated across an entire canvas, their edges woozily tilting off the perpendicular. —Roberta Smith, Will Heinrich, Martha Schwendener and Jason Farago, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2017

Word History

Etymology

Late Latin tessellatus, past participle of tessellare to pave with tesserae, from Latin tessella, diminutive of tessera

First Known Use

1789, in the meaning defined above