Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Formed by or having two plane faces; two-sided.
  • adjective Relating to, having, or forming a dihedral angle.
  • noun A dihedral angle.
  • noun A dihedral group.
  • noun Aeronautics The upward or downward inclination of an aircraft wing from true horizontal.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In geometry, a pair of consecutive faces of an angloid.
  • Having two sides, as a figure; having two plane faces, as a crystal.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having two plane faces.
  • adjective Of a kite or an aëroplane, having wings that make with one another a dihedral angle, esp. when the angle between the upper sides is less than 180°.
  • adjective (Aëronautics) Of wing pairs, inclined at an upward angle to each other.
  • adjective the angular space contained between planes which intersect. It is measured by the angle made by any two lines at right angles to the two planes.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun mathematics An angle between two plane surfaces
  • noun aeronautics The upward slope of an aircraft's wing
  • noun chemistry The angle between pairs of chemical bonds separated by a third bond
  • adjective mathematics Consisting of, relating to or contained between two plane surfaces.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Swedish manufacturer Koenigsegg is also taking door design to a new level with what it calls the dihedral synchro-helix actuation system.

    Colin Campbell 2009

  • The angle between two planes is termed dihedral, between three trihedral, between any number more than three polyhedral.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1 Various

  • The silhouettes of eagles flatten out, while the wings of vultures show a dihedral curve (bird guides love throwing in words such as "dihedral," forcing you to not only look up birds but words as well).

    Confessions of a Lousy Bird Watcher 2010

  • But I also climbed -- well, I kind of built myself a rainbow, because I decided I was being wimpy, and I think that was about a 5.7, and I also did two 5. 8s on the slab and a tricky psych-out of a 5.8 in the dihedral under and over the barrel vault, which I had also done before.

    almost won but it doesn' count. it never does. ace_cub_reportr 2009

  • Goldens soar with a slight dihedral; bald eagles soar with their wings almost flat.

    Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011

  • Goldens soar with a slight dihedral; bald eagles soar with their wings almost flat.

    Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011

  • Goldens soar with a slight dihedral; bald eagles soar with their wings almost flat.

    Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011

  • Goldens soar with a slight dihedral; bald eagles soar with their wings almost flat.

    Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011

  • Its wings are raised in a shallow, dihedral V, and its body tilts unevenly from one side to the other.

    THE BOYS FROM SANTA CRUZ Jonathan Nasaw 2010

  • Then I went back to retry a tough white 5.7 in a dihedral with a little roof, and I blew it at the crux four times.

    you got a plot to write every night. did they never tell you that? johnjosephadams 2008

Comments

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  • From my climbing days, a near-vertical stretch of a route to be scaled via the inner angle of 2 intersecting faces of rock and/or ice. Sometimes dihedrals were a simple execution to mount and surpass, with the hands and "protection" (inserted and firmly-lodged hardware such as reversible cams, nuts, pitons, etc., to which carabiners and slings holding the rope were attached) utilizing a crack at the intersection of the faces while the feet took advantage of and found purchase upon irregularities on the opposing faces.

    January 15, 2009