Pronunciations (12)
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/skwɛə/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/skwɛː/
Pronunciation notes
- British
- Southern
- Standard
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/skweɹ/
Pronunciation notes
- Scotland
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/skwɜː(ɹ)/
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/skwɛɹ/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- US
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[skwɛ˞]
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- US
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/skwɛəɹ/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- US
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/skweː/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
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/skwiə̯/
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/skweə̯/
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
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skwɛə(ɹ)
Pronunciation notes
- GB
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skwɛɚ
Pronunciation notes
- US
Noun
A polygon with four straight sides of equal length and four right angles; an equilateral rectangle; a regular quadrilateral.
- Examples
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I took refuge in the square form and exhibited a picture which consisted of nothing more than a black square on a white field.
Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form. A cell in a grid.
- Examples
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You may not move a piece to a square already occupied by one of your own pieces.
Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form. A square piece, part, or surface.
- Examples
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a square of glass
Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form. The front of a woman's dress over the bosom, usually worked or embroidered.
Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form. A dessert cut into rectangular pieces, or a piece of such a dessert.
Usage- Canada
- US usage
Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form. A certain number of lines, forming a portion of a column, nearly square; used chiefly in reckoning the prices of advertisements in newspapers.
An L- or T-shaped tool used to place objects or draw lines at right angles.
- Examples
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There are so many uses for the square, in fact, that a new model will usually come complete with a booklet enumerating its applications.
An L- or T-shaped tool used to place objects or draw lines at right angles. A true measure, standard, or pattern.
Usage- Figurative
- Obsolete
An open space or park, often in the center of a town, not necessarily square in shape, often containing trees, seating and other features pleasing to the eye.
- Examples
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The statue of Alexander the Seventh stands in the large square of the town.
You're not in Wisconsin, Dave. The big story isn't about a cow wandering into the town square.
An open space or park, often in the center of a town, not necessarily square in shape, often containing trees, seating and other features pleasing to the eye. A street surrounding a public square or plaza.
Usage- often
- in street names or addresses
- Synonyms
The product of a number or quantity multiplied by itself; the second power of a number, value, term or expression.
- Antonyms
- Examples
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64 is the square of 8.
More examples (1)
Newton's law of gravitation, universally accepted by scientists even in the face of a fifth force, showed that any two objects attract each other at a rate directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of their distance apart.
A pattern to be matched that consists of a subpattern repeated, such as "papa" or "wikiwiki".
- Examples
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Squares cannot be easily matched by regular expressions.
A body of troops drawn up in a square formation.
- Examples
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he alone Dealt on lieutenantry, and no practice had In the brave squares of war
More examples (3)
1818, quoted in Christopher Kelly, History of the French Revolution and of the Wars produced by that Memorable Event The French cavalry, in proof armour, repeatedly charged our squares, their cannon opening chasms; but the British infantry, though greatly diminished, were inflexible and impenetrable to the last.
The sand of the desert is sodden red,— Red with the wreck of a square that broke;— The Gatling's jammed and the Colonel dead, And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
After disastrous attempts to break the Russian squares, during which, Longworth recounts, ‘the best and the bravest of the warriors fell victim to their own rashness’, the Circassians likewise changed their tactics.
A socially conventional or conservative person; a person who has little or no interest in the latest fads or trends.
Usage- Dated
- Examples
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Why do you always wear a tie? Don't be such a square!
Good looks are important, but good looks don't hold if he's a square.
More examples (2)
She said: Wow! What a square! Don't you dig the scene? / Daddy Cool's playing his piano machine!
The sad sack was a sitting on a block of stone Way over in the corner weepin' all alone. The warden said, hey, buddy, don't you be no square If you can't find a partner, use a wooden chair.
The symbol # on a telephone; hash.
Usage- UK usage
- Examples
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Enter your account number followed by a square.
The central area of a cricket field, with one or more pitches of which only one is used at a time.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
An ideal playing area is roughly circular in shape with a central area, the cricket square, measuring 27.44 metres by 27.44 metres and boundaries 45.75 metres from the sides of the square.
A unit of measurement of area, equal to a 10 foot by 10 foot square, i.e. 100 square feet or roughly 9.3 square metres. Used in real estate for the size of a house or its rooms, though progressively being replaced by square metres in metric countries such as Australia.
- Examples
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More examples (2)
2006, Macquarie Bank (Australia), press release Macquarie releases Real Estate Market Outlook 2006 - "The World Squared", 21 June 2006 Just as the basic unit of real estate measurement across the world is the square
2007, Your Estate advertisement for Grindelwald Tasmania The house is very large and open and boasts 39 squares of living space plus over 13 squares of decking area on 3 sides and 17 squares of garage and workshop downstairs.
A unit used in measuring roof area equivalent to 100 square feet (9.29 m²) of roof area. The materials for roofing jobs are often billed by the square in the United States.
A mortarboard.
Exact proportion; justness of workmanship and conduct; regularity; rule.
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
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1594-1597, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie They of Galatia [were] much more out of square.
I have not kept my square.
The relation of harmony, or exact agreement; equality; level.
- Examples
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We live not on the square with such as these.
The position of planets distant ninety degrees from each other; a quadrate.
The act of squaring, or quarrelling; a quarrel.
Usage- Dated
Cigarette.
Usage- Slang
A vat used for fermentation.
A well-defined torso.
Usage- Multicultural-London-English
- Slang
- Examples
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She wanna talk about feelings But I don't believe in love Just give me your square
I don’t really care about them man there Tell the bad b “just swing your square”
More examples (1)
Get on your knees and suck this dick Get on your knees and slop this quick Bro knows I could never put trust in a bitch (Never) Me and Tz like Lilo ’n Stitch So don’t hesitate to swing me your shit Yeah, swing your square
Adjective
Shaped like a square (the polygon).
- Broader terms
- Examples
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More examples (1)
The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, […].
Forming a right angle (90°).
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
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a square corner
Take care to make the cut completely square to the edges of the wire to give a good butt join for the ends of the wire.
More examples (1)
A September video from the TikTok user syrianpsycho, who promotes softmaxxing to his 1.2 million followers, bemoans the experience of going to restaurant while “mewing” (a technique that involves placing the tongue on the roof of the mouth, which Looksmaxxers believe makes the jaw grow squarer and stronger) and “starvemaxxing” (the Looksmaxxers’ term for extreme fasting).
Forming a right angle (90°). Forming right angles in all planes as intended; not racked or leaning.
Usage- of box-shaped objects such as buildings or metal frames
- Antonyms
- Examples
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The foundation has to be level and the framing has to be square.
The stacks had to be neat and square or the old guy grumbled and insisted on getting it just so.
Forming a right angle (90°). Forming right angles with the mast or the keel, and parallel to the horizon; said of the yards of a square-rigged vessel when they are so braced.
Used in the names of units of area formed by multiplying a unit of length by itself.
- Examples
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A floor that measures 4 feet square has an area of 16 square feet.
square mile
More examples (1)
It is not permissible to use abbreviations for unit symbols or unit names, such as sec (for either s or second), sq. mm (for either mm² or square millimetre), cc (for either cm³ or cubic centimetre), or mps (for either m/s or metre per second).
Honest; straightforward; fair.
- Examples
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I'm just looking for a square deal on my car repair.
square dealing
More examples (3)
Why, you would not be boosing till lightman's in a square crib like mine, as if you were in a flash panny?
I believe you're a good, square man
I am not very good at analysing things, but I felt that she talked a little uncomfortably and with a suspicion of effort, smiled rather conventionally, and was obviously glad to go. These things seem trifling enough to repeat, but I had throughout the faint feeling that everything was not square.
Satisfied; comfortable with; not experiencing any conflict.
- Examples
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By the confident tone in her voice, you can tell she is square with that.
" […] I will never act on it, but if you're satisfied with the way things are then I am, too. […] So, are we square?”
Even; tied
- Examples
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to make or leave the accounts square
The sides were square at the end of the half.
More examples (4)
The teams were square while at even strength. have to play better than even if we want to win games." said Montreal goalie Jose Theodore
But the Jays were square again by the end of the inning, as Myers hit a 2-and-0 pitch into the left-center field seats
The sides were square to the 14th hole when Goosen took birdie,
In each of the last three afternoon foursomes, the Americans were square through 15, but could only come in with two halves and a loss.
Socially conventional; boring.
Usage- Derogatory
- Slang
- Synonyms
- Examples
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It was a square town, but that didn't bother me. I knew I didn't have to live a square life.
The square Johns lie more than the in-guys do.
In line with the batsman's popping crease.
Solid, decent, substantial.
- Examples
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It may be prison, but at least I'm getting three square meals a day.
By Heaven, square eaters. More meat, I say.
More examples (4)
It is obvious two o'clock will arrive in about five and a half hours from now, and I presume every gentleman in the House would like to get a square breakfast.
If some of you who read this paragraph would quit scheming and get down to honest, square effort this year, your creditors would get their due and your families would be better kept.
"Sarah," said her grandmother. "You should eat a good square meal."
I said that because I didn't want any knives involved, and if Wizzie agreed to a square go now, with half the school listening, she couldn't go back on it.
Having a shape broad for the height, with angular rather than curving outlines.
- Examples
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a man of a square frame
Of an internal combustion engine design, in which the diameter of the piston is similar, roughly, approximately, equal to its stroke distance.
Adverb
Directly.
- Examples
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Staash tipped up the rim of his hat and looked me square in the eyes as the cigarette dangled from his lips.
Verb
To adjust so as to align with or place at a right angle to something else; in particular
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The casting was mounted on a milling machine so that its sides could be squared.
To adjust so as to align with or place at a right angle to something else; in particular: To place at a right angle to the mast or keel.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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to square the yards
To adjust so as to align with or place at a right angle to something else; in particular: To rotate the oars so that they are perpendicular to the water.
Usage- Transitive
To resolve or reconcile; to suit or fit.
Usage- Transitive or intransitive
- Examples
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John can square this question up for us.
These results just don't square with what we expected.
More examples (1)
[…] the process theist may not regard the killing of non-human animals for food or other reasons as generally acceptable. Call the process thinker who regards the killing of non-human animals for food as (usually) morally wrong a zoophile. Even if the zoophile regards human beings as more capable of experience and insight than another animals, and as therefore more valuable than other animals, she may regard non-human animals as moral patients. She may well not regard predatory animals as full moral agents; she will then have no reason to see their killing of other animals for food as itself morally wrong, because predators are not themselves subject to moral assessments. But she may still find it difficult to square God's encouragement of predation with an attractive account of divine goodness.
To adjust or adapt so as to bring into harmony with something.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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I cannot square the results of the experiment with my hypothesis.
to square our actions by the opinions of others
More examples (1)
Square my trial To my proportioned strength.
Of a value, term, or expression, to multiply by itself; to raise to the second power.
Usage- Transitive
To draw, with a pair of compasses and a straightedge only, a square with the same area as.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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square the circle
To tile (completely fill) with squares.
Usage- Transitive
To settle; to put right.
Usage- Slang
- Examples
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'Sounds fine,' said Bond. 'I've talked to M and he'll square Washington if there's any trouble. Look after yourself too,' he added.
To make a short low pass sideways across the pitch
- Examples
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First, former Toffee Mikel Arteta sent Walcott racing clear but instead of shooting he squared towards Ramsey, who was foiled by Tony Hibbert.
To take opposing sides; to quarrel.
Usage- Archaic
To accord or agree exactly; to be consistent with; to suit; to fit.
- Examples
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No works shall find acceptance […] that square not truly with the Scripture plan.
To go to opposite sides; to take an attitude of offense or defense, or of defiance; to quarrel.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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Are you such fools / To square for this?
To take a boxing attitude; often with up or off.
- Examples
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There we stood, well squared up before it, shoulder to shoulder, and foot to foot, with our hands behind us, not budging an inch.
To form with four sides and four right angles.
- Examples
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A stately pallace built of squared bricke, Which cunningly was without morter laid
To form with right angles and straight lines, or flat surfaces.
- Examples
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to square mason's work
Everything on his writing desk was squared off: blotter, paper knife, pen rack.
To compare with, or reduce to, any given measure or standard.
- Examples
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to square the general sex By Cressid's rule
To hold a quartile position respecting.
- Examples
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the icy Goat, the Crab that square the Scales
Adjective
having four equal sides and four right angles or forming a right angle
- Antonyms
- Examples
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a square peg in a round hole
a square corner
characterized by honesty and fairness
- Synonyms
- Examples
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straight dealing
a square deal
providing abundant nourishment
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a hearty meal
good solid food
More examples (2)
ate a substantial breakfast
four square meals a day
leaving no balance
- Examples
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my account with you is now all square
without evasion or compromise
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a square contradiction
he is not being as straightforward as it appears
rigidly conventional or old-fashioned
- Synonyms
Noun
(geometry) a plane rectangle with four equal sides and four right angles; a four-sided regular polygon
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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you can compute the area of a square if you know the length of its sides
the product of two equal terms
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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nine is the second power of three
gravity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance
an open area at the meeting of two or more streets
- Synonyms
something approximating the shape of a square
someone who doesn't understand what is going on
- Synonyms
a formal and conservative person with old-fashioned views
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
any artifact having a shape similar to a plane geometric figure with four equal sides and four right angles
- Examples
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a checkerboard has 64 squares
a hand tool consisting of two straight arms at right angles; used to construct or test right angles
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the carpenter who built this room must have lost his square
Adverb
in a straight direct way
- Synonyms
- Examples
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looked him squarely in the eye
ran square into me
in a square shape
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a squarely cut piece of paper
folded the sheet of paper square
firmly and solidly
- Synonyms
- Examples
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hit the ball squarely
the bat met the ball squarely
More examples (1)
planted his great bulk square before his enemy
Verb
make square
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Square the circle
square the wood with a file
raise to the second power
- Broader terms
cause to match, as of ideas or acts
position so as to be square
- Broader terms
- Examples
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He squared his shoulders
be compatible with
- Examples
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one idea squares with another
pay someone and settle a debt
- Broader terms
- Examples
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I squared with him
turn the paddle; in canoeing
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
turn the oar, while rowing
- Synonyms
- Broader terms