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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

square.

A polygon with four straight sides of equal length and four right angles; an equilateral rectangle; a regular quadrilateral.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/skwɛə/Received-Pronunciation/skwɛː/British, Southern, Standard/skweɹ/Scotland/skwɜː(ɹ)/
  1. A polygon with four straight sides of equal length and four right angles; an equilateral rectangle; a regular quadrilateral.

  2. Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form. A cell in a grid.

    You may not move a piece to a square already occupied by one of your own pieces.
  3. Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form. A square piece, part, or surface.

    a square of glass
  4. Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form. The front of a woman's dress over the bosom, usually worked or embroidered.

  5. Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form. A dessert cut into rectangular pieces, or a piece of such a dessert.

    Canada · US
  6. 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.

  7. An L- or T-shaped tool used to place objects or draw lines at right angles.

  8. An L- or T-shaped tool used to place objects or draw lines at right angles. A true measure, standard, or pattern.

    figuratively · obsolete
  9. 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.

  10. 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.

    often
  11. The product of a number or quantity multiplied by itself; the second power of a number, value, term or expression.

    64 is the square of 8.
  12. A pattern to be matched that consists of a subpattern repeated, such as "papa" or "wikiwiki".

    Squares cannot be easily matched by regular expressions.
  13. A body of troops drawn up in a square formation.

  14. A socially conventional or conservative person; a person who has little or no interest in the latest fads or trends.

    dated
    Why do you always wear a tie? Don't be such a square!
  15. The symbol # on a telephone; hash.

    UK
    Enter your account number followed by a square.
  16. The central area of a cricket field, with one or more pitches of which only one is used at a time.

    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.
  17. 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.

  18. 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.

  19. A mortarboard.

  20. Ellipsis of square meal.

    US · abbreviation · alt-of · colloquial · ellipsis
    Even when times were tough, we got three squares a day.
  21. Exact proportion; justness of workmanship and conduct; regularity; rule.

    archaic
  22. The relation of harmony, or exact agreement; equality; level.

  23. The position of planets distant ninety degrees from each other; a quadrate.

  24. The act of squaring, or quarrelling; a quarrel.

    dated
  25. Cigarette.

    slang
  26. A vat used for fermentation.

  27. A well-defined torso.

    Multicultural-London-English · slang
Where this word comes from

From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra. Displaced Old English fēowerecge (fēower nominative + ecg accusative, as in "four-edged").

adj/skwɛə/Received-Pronunciation/skwɛː/British, Southern, Standard/skweɹ/Scotland/skwɜː(ɹ)/
  1. Shaped like a square (the polygon).

  2. Forming a right angle (90°).

    a square corner
  3. Forming a right angle (90°). Forming right angles in all planes as intended; not racked or leaning.

    The foundation has to be level and the framing has to be square.
  4. 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.

  5. Used in the names of units of area formed by multiplying a unit of length by itself.

    A floor that measures 4 feet square has an area of 16 square feet.
    square mile
  6. Honest; straightforward; fair.

    I'm just looking for a square deal on my car repair.
    square dealing
  7. Satisfied; comfortable with; not experiencing any conflict.

  8. Even; tied

    to make or leave the accounts square
    The sides were square at the end of the half.
  9. Socially conventional; boring.

    derogatory · slang
  10. In line with the batsman's popping crease.

  11. Solid, decent, substantial.

    It may be prison, but at least I'm getting three square meals a day.
  12. Having a shape broad for the height, with angular rather than curving outlines.

    a man of a square frame
  13. Of an internal combustion engine design, in which the diameter of the piston is similar, roughly, approximately, equal to its stroke distance.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra. Displaced Old English fēowerecge (fēower nominative + ecg accusative, as in "four-edged").

adv/skwɛə/Received-Pronunciation/skwɛː/British, Southern, Standard/skweɹ/Scotland/skwɜː(ɹ)/
  1. Directly.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra. Displaced Old English fēowerecge (fēower nominative + ecg accusative, as in "four-edged").

verb/skwɛə/Received-Pronunciation/skwɛː/British, Southern, Standard/skweɹ/Scotland/skwɜː(ɹ)/
  1. To adjust so as to align with or place at a right angle to something else; in particular

    transitive
    The casting was mounted on a milling machine so that its sides could be squared.
  2. 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.

    transitive
    to square the yards
  3. 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.

    transitive
  4. To resolve or reconcile; to suit or fit.

    ambitransitive
    John can square this question up for us.
    These results just don't square with what we expected.
  5. To adjust or adapt so as to bring into harmony with something.

    transitive
    I cannot square the results of the experiment with my hypothesis.
    to square our actions by the opinions of others
  6. Of a value, term, or expression, to multiply by itself; to raise to the second power.

    transitive
  7. To draw, with a pair of compasses and a straightedge only, a square with the same area as.

    transitive
    square the circle
  8. To tile (completely fill) with squares.

    transitive
  9. To settle; to put right.

    slang
  10. To make a short low pass sideways across the pitch

  11. To take opposing sides; to quarrel.

    archaic
  12. To accord or agree exactly; to be consistent with; to suit; to fit.

  13. To go to opposite sides; to take an attitude of offense or defense, or of defiance; to quarrel.

    obsolete
  14. To take a boxing attitude; often with up or off.

  15. To form with four sides and four right angles.

  16. To form with right angles and straight lines, or flat surfaces.

    to square mason's work
  17. To compare with, or reduce to, any given measure or standard.

  18. To hold a quartile position respecting.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra. Displaced Old English fēowerecge (fēower nominative + ecg accusative, as in "four-edged").

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.