- Symmetry
- Symmetry Sym"me*try, n. [L. symmetria, Gr. ?; sy`n with,
together + ? a measure: cf. F. sym['e]trie. See {Syn-}, and
{Meter} rhythm.]
1. A due proportion of the several parts of a body to each
other; adaptation of the form or dimensions of the several
parts of a thing to each other; the union and conformity
of the members of a work to the whole.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Biol.) The law of likeness; similarity of structure; regularity in form and arrangement; orderly and similar distribution of parts, such that an animal may be divided into parts which are structurally symmetrical. [1913 Webster]
Note: Bilateral symmetry, or two-sidedness, in vertebrates, etc., is that in which the body can be divided into symmetrical halves by a vertical plane passing through the middle; radial symmetry, as in echinoderms, is that in which the individual parts are arranged symmetrically around a central axis; serial symmetry, or zonal symmetry, as in earthworms, is that in which the segments or metameres of the body are disposed in a zonal manner one after the other in a longitudinal axis. This last is sometimes called metamerism. [1913 Webster]
3. (Bot.) (a) Equality in the number of parts of the successive circles in a flower. (b) Likeness in the form and size of floral organs of the same kind; regularity. [1913 Webster]
{Axis of symmetry}. (Geom.) See under {Axis}.
{Respective symmetry}, that disposition of parts in which only the opposite sides are equal to each other. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.