Platonic body
- noun
- /pləˈtɒnɪk ˈbɒdi/
- Specialized
- The cube is a classic example of a Platonic body because all its faces are squares and its angles are equal.
Examples
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The Platonic bodies include tetrahedrons and cubes.
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A Platonic body has identical faces and angles.
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Sixty-four small marbles were placed inside a transparent Platonic body to demonstrate its symmetry to the class.
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The ancient Greeks believed that each Platonic body was associated with one of the classical elements.
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The cube is a well-known Platonic body with six square faces that are all equal.
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In geometry class, we studied various Platonic bodies, including the tetrahedron and dodecahedron.
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A Platonic body is defined by having faces that are all the same regular polygon and angles that are equal.
Synonyms
1
7.8
A solid shape with flat faces made from straight-sided shapes, like a cube
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9.0
A 3D shape with all the same regular flat faces, like a cube or tetrahedron
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8.6
A solid shape with identical flat faces that are regular polygons like a cube
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8.8
A solid shape with flat faces where any line between two points inside stays inside, for example a cube
A solid with the same flat faces that are regular polygons and with all angles the same
A three-dimensional shape whose faces are the same flat shapes with all sides equal and equal angles between them
A three-dimensional shape with identical regular flat faces, like a cube
Surface Forms
Morphology
Combining 'Platonic' (relating to Plato's ideal forms) with 'body' (a three-dimensional object) yields a comprehensible idea of an ideal or perfectly regular 3D object, so a learner who knows the constituents will grasp a general sense. However, the precise technical meaning — that it denotes one of the five specific regular convex polyhedra (Platonic solids) — is specialized and not fully predictable from the parts alone.
Etymology
Platonic body comes from the Greek thinker Plato, who and his students liked a few 'perfect' solid shapes with all faces the same and the angles at each corner equal. The word Platonic links it to Plato and the word body points to a solid shape. So Platonic body now means one of those regular, 'perfect' three-dimensional shapes.