isometry

noun

isom·​e·​try ī-ˈsä-mə-trē How to pronounce isometry (audio)
plural isometries
: a mapping of a metric space onto another or onto itself so that the distance between any two points in the original space is the same as the distance between their images in the second space
rotation and translation are isometries of the plane

Examples of isometry in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
For his part, however, Arkani-Hamed doubts that swapping in isometry for unitarity goes far enough. Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 26 Sep. 2022 So does Dittrich, who came to similar realizations about isometry a decade ago while attempting to formulate a toy quantum theory of space-time with her collaborator Philipp Höhn. Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 26 Sep. 2022 That’s because symmetries are isometries, which preserve the size and shape of the object. Quanta Magazine, 17 Aug. 2017 Similarly, the properties of isometries guarantee that line segments get mapped to line segments. Quanta Magazine, 17 Aug. 2017

Word History

First Known Use

1881, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of isometry was in 1881

Dictionary Entries Near isometry

Cite this Entry

“Isometry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/isometry. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on isometry

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!