Definitions

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

  • adjective Having three unequal sides. Used of triangles.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In mathematics, having three sides unequal: noting a triangle so constructed.
  • In anatomy: Obliquely situated and unequal-sided, as a muscle: specifically said of the scaleni. See scalenus.
  • Pertaining to a scalene muscle.
  • noun A scalene triangle.
  • noun One of the scalene muscles. See scalenus.

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

  • adjective Having the sides and angles unequal; -- said of a triangle.
  • adjective Having the axis inclined to the base, as a cone.
  • adjective Designating several triangular muscles called scalene muscles.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to the scalene muscles.
  • adjective (Anat.) a group of muscles, usually three on each side in man, extending from the cervical vertebræ to the first and second ribs.
  • noun (Geom.) A triangle having its sides and angles unequal.

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

  • adjective geometry, of a triangle Having each of its three sides of different lengths.
  • noun A scalene muscle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to any of the scalene muscles
  • adjective of a triangle having three sides of different lengths

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin scalēnus, from Greek skalēnos, from skallein, to hoe, stir up; see skel- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • The real elements are two triangles, the rectangular isosceles which has but one form, and the most beautiful of the many forms of scalene, which is half of an equilateral triangle.

    Timaeus 2006

  • The real elements are two triangles, the rectangular isosceles which has but one form, and the most beautiful of the many forms of scalene, which is half of an equilateral triangle.

    Timaeus 427? BC-347? BC Plato 1855

  • How can anyone say that a scalene and an equilateral are really the same "kind"!

    May 16th, 2009 m_francis 2009

  • When Owen closed his eyes, he could see them doing it, one blonde and the other red-headed, climbing up and down walls in faultless scalene triangles, counting every step.

    365 tomorrows » 2010 » May : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2010

  • Overhead, a jigsaw puzzle of scalene triangles zigs and zags along the ceiling.

    New York, New York: A Library That Most Can Only Dream Of « ResourceShelf 2010

  • The triangle as such has three angles (a constitutive property), it has three sides (a consecutive property, one that is somehow included in the object's constitutive properties), but it is neither scalene nor non-scalene, neither green nor non-green etc.

    Salvation Santa 2009

  • Below, the earth is platted into odd geometrical shapes: scalene triangles and parallelograms of umber, dun and ochre.

    The Spirit Upwelling 2009

  • The faces of the first three of these are composed of equilateral triangles, and each face is itself composed of six elemental (scalene) half equilateral right-angled triangles, whose sides are in a proportion of

    Plato's Timaeus Zeyl, Donald 2009

  • In essence, it does because it contains the vital antioxidants scalene, flavonoids, and polyphenols at a minimum.

    Olives and People, Past and Present 2008

  • June 23, 2008 at 12:19 pm yu is scalene gnu hyts wiv tehse puns!

    stop watchin me, is tryin - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2008

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