Definitions

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

  • adjective Having a substructure analogous or identical to an overall structure. In mathematics, certain geometrical objects such as line segments and fractals are self-similar to an arbitrary level of magnification; many natural phenomena, such as clouds and plants, are self-similar to some degree.

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

  • adjective Having self-similarity; having parts that resemble the whole, as a fractal has.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From self- and similar.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word self-similar.

Examples

  • The ribs are lined with series of 6 round panels organized in a self-similar, nonrecursive pattern generated through a fractal algorithm.

    The Greenhouse Nightclub Interior by bluarch Architecture 2009

  • Hugh Kenner, whose 1971 magnum opus gave McGurl his name for the earlier era, wrote that modernist literary texts are “self-similar” or “scaling objects,” terms derived from Benoit Mandelbrot, the inventor of fractal geometry.

    Message and technique 2009

  • The self-replicating, self-similar geology of San Lucido

    Archive 2007-04-01 2007

  • The self-replicating, self-similar geology of San Lucido

    Archive 2007-10-01 2007

  • The self-replicating, self-similar geology of San Lucido

    Archive 2007-07-01 2007

  • But what if literary texts or at least a significant number of them are not self-similar tissues of self-consistent details, but something looser, more informal, perhaps even more extemporaneous?

    Message and technique 2009

  • Fractal Geometry is the study of self-similar structures and is at the conceptual core of understanding nature's complexity.

    Fractal Geometry, Human Emotion and Social Marketing - Tom Troja - MediaBizBloggers 2009

  • But what if literary texts or at least a significant number of them are not self-similar tissues of self-consistent details, but something looser, more informal, perhaps even more extemporaneous?

    Archive 2009-10-01 2009

  • Fractal Geometry is the study of self-similar structures and is at the conceptual core of understanding nature's complexity.

    Fractal Geometry, Human Emotion and Social Marketing - Tom Troja - MediaBizBloggers 2009

  • Hugh Kenner, whose 1971 magnum opus gave McGurl his name for the earlier era, wrote that modernist literary texts are “self-similar” or “scaling objects,” terms derived from Benoit Mandelbrot, the inventor of fractal geometry.

    Archive 2009-10-01 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.