tessellate

verb

tes·​sel·​late ˈte-sə-ˌlāt How to pronounce tessellate (audio)
tessellated; tessellating

transitive verb

: to form into or adorn with mosaic

Examples of tessellate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Tonight, Wong is wearing the closing look from Iris van Herpen’s fall 2023 couture show: a black-and-white gabardine and satin column dress covered in tessellating florals that crawl up a tulle illusion mock neck. Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 24 Feb. 2024 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

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

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of tessellate was in 1789

Dictionary Entries Near tessellate

Cite this Entry

“Tessellate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tessellate. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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