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Glite Dictionary
🌍 Shortest path 🌍 A shortest curve
geodesic

geodesic

4 8.9
Relating to the shortest path between two points on a curved surface like the Earth
  • adjective
  • /ˌdʒiːəˈdɛsɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : geodésico
  • The architect designed the building with a geodesic structure to make it more energy efficient.
  • geodesic distance

He was and the geodesic domes and all that.

Examples

  • Among its guests was the eighteenth-century French scientist and geodesist Charles-Marie de la Condamine, who participated in the Geodesic Field Mission that determined the shape of the Earth and later established the meter as an international standard of measurement.

    Academic text (1998)

  • The old one's a geodesic dome.

    Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2019)

  • A geodesic dome, white and space-age, is being erected on the lawn.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The flickering blue fire from a single oxygen-starved candle barely illuminated the interior of our geodesic dome shelter.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The solar concentrator uses a geodesic space frame, a polar-axis drive, and five-foot-diameter stretched-membrane polymer mirror facets.

    Academic text (1994)

  • The scientists discussed how to calculate the geodesic distance between the two countries on the globe.

  • Traveling along the geodesic route would save us both time and fuel on our journey.

Synonyms

geodetic
vsgeodesic
  • Specialized
1 9.9

Used in scientific work to measure the Earth's shape and position

focuses more on shortest paths across a curved surface like the Earth
geodesical
vsgeodesic
  • Specialized
9.9

Relating to measuring and mapping the Earth's shape, size, and gravity

is more specifically about the shortest route between points on a curve

Compounds

geodesic dome
  • Specialized
2 7.8

A strong, light building shaped like part of a ball made from many triangles

geodesic line
  • Specialized
9.9

The shortest path between two points on a curved surface like a globe

Surface Forms

geodesic positive

Morphology

geodesic = geodesy (opaque) = geodesy + ic

The adjective is formally based on 'geodesy' + '-ic', but the term is specialized and not readily inferable for an average learner.

Etymology

Geodesic comes from the Greek part geo- meaning 'earth' and a root that meant 'to measure' or 'divide', similar to the idea in geography. So, when something is described as geodesic it relates to measuring the Earth or the shortest lines on a curved surface, like a straight line on a globe.