symmetryn.
/ˈsɪmɪtri/ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > [noun] > relative
afferanta1325
proportionc1390
symmetry1563
1563 J. Shute First Groundes Archit. sig. Aiiiv Concerning ye proportion and simetry to vse the accustomed terme of the arte of the fornamed columbes.
1563 J. Shute First Groundes Archit. B j b They not knowing any measure of pillours considered howe to make a iust Symetrie,..after that they deuised to make a temple to the goddesse Diana, wherein they dyd deuise an other Symetrie, for that temple.
1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. Math. Præf. sig. aiiij The exhibiting to our eye,..the plat of a Citie,..or Pallace, in true Symmetry.
1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. Math. Præf. sig. ciijv Now, may you, of any Gunne,..make an other, with the same Symmetrie..as great, and as little, as you will.
1624 H. Wotton Elements Archit. in Reliquiæ Wottonianæ (1672) 23 Man..is..as it were the Prototype of all exact Symmetrie.
1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 241 True and native beauty consists in the just composure and symetrie of the parts of the body.
1730 A. Gordon tr. F. S. Maffei Compl. Hist. Anc. Amphitheatres 313 He marks out a Stair..which agrees not with the Symmetry of the Building.
2. Due or just proportion; harmony of parts with each other and the whole; fitting, regular, or balanced arrangement and relation of parts or elements; the condition or quality of being well-proportioned or well-balanced. In stricter use (approaching or passing into 3b): Exact correspondence in size and position of opposite parts; equable distribution of parts about a dividing line or centre. (As an attribute either of the whole, or of the parts composing it.)
a. † (b) in semi-concrete sense: (Well-proportioned) figure or form (of a person or animal). Obsolete.
(a) of natural objects or structures, esp. the human or animal body: often (esp. in early use) = regularity and beauty of form, fair or fine appearance, comeliness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > symmetry or regularity > [noun]
proportiona1382
measurec1384
symmetry1601
symmetry1601
conformity1607
regularness1648
balance1733
regularity1758
symmetricalness1858
symmetricality1893
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > beauty of shape or form > [noun]
shapea1382
shapeliness1388
well-shape?c1430
makdom1488
decentness1561
feature1595
symmetry1601
decency1610
garba1652
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > other specific arrangements > [noun] > balanced arrangement
commodulation1592
symmetry1601
symmetry1601
symmetricalness1858
symmetricality1893
1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love i. iii. sig. C If I had thought a creature of her Symmetry would haue dard so improportionable and abrupte a digression. View more context for this quotation
1633 G. Herbert Church Porch in Temple lxx Who marks in church-time others symmetrie, Makes all their beautie his deformitie.
1635 A. Stafford Femall Glory 4 Whether her beauty chiefly consisted in colour, in Symmetry of parts, or both.
1778 H. More Bleeding Rock 224 Hers every charm of symmetry and grace.
1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 185 The small Italian hound of exquisite symmetry.
1853 C. Brontë Villette II. xxv. 225 Her pale, small features, her fairy symmetry, her varying expression.
1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table xii. 334 One of the finest trees in symmetry and beauty I had ever seen.
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1602 J. Marston Hist. Antonio & Mellida ii. sig. D2 Ladie, erect your gratious summetry.
1633 J. Ford Loves Sacrifice ii. sig. E She cannot..more really, behold her owne Symetry in her glasse.
1794 W. Blake Tyger in Songs of Experience in Compl. Poetry & Prose (1982) 24 What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
b. of artificial things or structures, esp. buildings.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > symmetry or regularity > [noun]
proportiona1382
measurec1384
symmetry1601
symmetry1601
conformity1607
regularness1648
balance1733
regularity1758
symmetricalness1858
symmetricality1893
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > other specific arrangements > [noun] > balanced arrangement
commodulation1592
symmetry1601
symmetry1601
symmetricalness1858
symmetricality1893
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxxiv. viii. 499 The Symmetrie, which..he observed most precisely in all his workes, is a tearme that cannot properly be expressed by a Latine word.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxxv. x. 543 Asclepiodorus, whome for his singular skill in observing symetries and just proportions, Apelles himselfe was woont to admire.
1702 W. J. tr. C. de Bruyn Voy. Levant ix. 31 There is no regularity of Architecture nor any Symmetry observ'd in it.
1723 E. Chambers tr. S. Le Clerc Treat. Archit. I. 97 This Column..must have a Pilaster by its side, to make a Symmetry with that on the other side the Window.
1820 C. Lamb in London Mag. Dec. 624/2 Spoilers of the symmetry of shelves.
1849 H. W. Longfellow Building of Ship in Seaside & Fireside 17 Till, framed with perfect symmetry, A skeleton ship rose up to view!
1907 F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (ed. 2 reissued) I. 15 The utter disregard of symmetry evinced by our ancestors which is one secret of the picturesqueness of their groups of buildings.
c.
(a) in general sense, or of immaterial or abstract things, as action, thought, discourse, literary composition, etc.
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1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 60 Beautie and fauour is composed..of many numbers meeting and concurring in one..and that by a certaine symmetrie, consonance and harmonie.
1609 L. Andrewes Serm., Resurrection (1631) iv. 420 The way, to peace, is the mid way: neither..too much; nor..too little. In a word; all analogie, symmetrie, harmony, in the world, goeth by it.
1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) ii. §9 Whatsoever is harmonically composed, delights in harmony; which makes me much distrust the symmetry of those heads which declaime against all Church musicke. View more context for this quotation
1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Sensus Communis: Ess. Freedom of Wit 108 The ordering of Walks, Plantations, Avenues; and a thousand other Symmetrys, will succeed in the room of that happier and higher Symmetry and Order of a Mind.
1742 R. West Let. c12 Apr. in T. Gray Corr. (1971) I. 194 The connexion and symmetry of such little parts with one another must naturally escape me, as not having the plan of the whole in my head.
1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 291 This book, Micah, has remarkable symmetry. Each of its three divisions is a whole, beginning with upbraiding for sin, threatening Gods judgments, and ending with promises of future mercy.
a1862 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1864) II. vi. 445 Into that dense and disorderly mass, did Adam Smith introduce symmetry, method, and law.
1904 H. Black Pract. Self Culture v. 132 Culture..aims at symmetry of life.
(b) Agreement, consistency, consonance, congruity, keeping (with something). rare or Obsolete.
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the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > [noun]
accordmentc1330
accorda1398
consonancya1398
unitya1398
accordancea1400
commoningc1400
convenience1413
correspondence1413
answeringc1425
conformityc1430
consonance1430
congruity1447
concordancec1450
consonantc1475
agreement1495
monochordc1500
conveniencya1513
agreeance1525
agreeableness1531
concinnity1531
congruence1533
harmony?1533
concent1563
tunableness1569
agreeing1575
answerableness1577
concert1578
consent1578
sympathy1578
concord1579
symphonia1579
correspondency1589
atone1595
coherence1597
respondence1598
symphony1598
sortance1600
coherency1603
respondency1603
symbolizing1605
coaptation1614
compositiona1616
sympathizing1632
comportance1648
compliance1649
syntax1649
concinneness1655
symmetry1655
homology1656
consistency1659
consentaneousness1660
consistence1670
comportment1675
harmoniousness1679
symbolism1722
congruousness1727
accordancy1790
sameness1790
consentaneity1798
consilience1840
chime1847
consensus1854
solidarity1874
synchromesh1966
concordancing1976
1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 9 You furnished my Father with..supply's, but they held no symmetry or proportion with the charge of so great an enterprise.
1659 J. Evelyn Let. 3 Sept. in Diary & Corr. (1852) III. 120 A rude plot of the building, which will..shew what symmetry it holds with this description.
1878 W. Stubbs 17 Lect. Study Hist. (1900) viii. 192 It is in exact symmetry with Western usage, that this great compilation was not received as a code until the year 1369.
3. Various specific and technical uses.† a. Physiology. Harmonious working of the bodily functions, producing a healthy temperament or condition. Obsolete. rare.
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the world > health and disease > [noun] > good health
healOE
healthc1000
strengthOE
soundc1275
hailc1300
halec1330
quartc1330
liege poustie1340
plight1394
soundness1398
sanity?a1475
quartfulness1483
healthfulness?1535
symmetry?1541
flesh1548
good liking?1560
well-being1561
valetude1575
safeness1576
kilter1582
mens sana in corpore sanoc1605
eucrasy1607
sanitude1652
salubrity1654
wellness1654
healthiness1670
vegeteness1678
wholesome1738
haleness1815
able-bodiedness1857
?1541 R. Copland Galen's Fourth Bk. Terapeutyke sig. Ejv, in Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens In Symmetrye, that is to say..in competent [? competence] and commoderacyon of smal conduites lyeth and consisteth the helth. And in Ametrie, that is to saye, in vncompetence and immoderacyon in them the dysease.
b.
(a) Science. Exact correspondence in position of the several points or parts of a figure or body with reference to a dividing line, plane, or point (or a number of lines or planes); arrangement of all the points of a figure or system in pairs (or sets) so that those of each pair (or set) are at equal distances on opposite sides of such line, plane, or point. More widely, a property by virtue of which something is effectively unchanged by a particular operation; an operation or set of operations that leaves something effectively unchanged; in Physics, a property that is conserved (cf. symmetry operation n. at Compounds 2).Symmetry, e.g. in crystals, may be of various grades, according to the number of radiating or non-parallel lines or planes about which the figure or body is symmetrical. axis of symmetry, centre of symmetry, plane of symmetry, the line, point, or plane about which a figure or body is symmetrical, i.e. which bisects every straight line joining a pair of corresponding points of such figure or body.
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the world > space > relative position > central condition or position > [noun] > central line, plane, or point
midpointc1450
centreline1590
plane of symmetry1823
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > [noun] > geometrical relation
congruity1656
symmetry1823
homography1859
homology1863
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > [noun] > geometrical property
duality1532
magnitude1570
solidity1570
order1706
symmetry1823
unicursality1887
self-coincidence1902
closure1905
non-orientability1938
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > other specific arrangements > [noun] > exact correspondence of parts
symmetry1823
the world > matter > physics > quantum theory > quantum mechanics > symmetry, conserved properly > [noun]
symmetry1965
1823 H. J. Brooke Familiar Introd. Crystallogr. 13 From the perfect symmetry of its form, the cube has a similar axis in four directions.
1837 D. Brewster Treat. Magnetism 39 A horse-shoe magnet..was made to revolve..about its axis of symmetry.
1850 J. McCosh Method Divine Govt. (ed. 2) ii. i. 126 The oblong, or two and two membered symmetry, may be traced..among crystals and flowers, as may also the three membered symmetry.
1877 T. H. Huxley Physiogr. (1878) 56 The best example of this hexagonal symmetry..is furnished by crystals of snow.
1878 H. P. Gurney Crystallogr. 29 A plane..through the centre of a model of a crystal will be a plane of symmetry, if the perpendiculars drawn to it from every point of the model, on being produced to equal distances on the other side..will terminate in points of the model similar to those from which they are drawn.
1908 H. Hilton Introd. Theory Groups Finite Order iv. 42 If a movement (other than identity) brings every point of a figure F into the position previously occupied either by itself or by some other point of F, F is said to possess symmetry.
1941 G. Birkhoff & S. MacLane Surv. Mod. Algebra vi. 122 The algebra of symmetries has its genesis in the fact that we can multiply two motions by performing them in succession.
1965 R. P. Feynman et al. Feynman Lect. Physics III. xvii. 8 Symmetry with respect to displacements in time implies the conservation of energy; symmetry with respect to position in x, y, or z implies the conservation of momentum.
1967 Physical Rev. Lett. 19 1264/2 As far as we know, two of these symmetries are entirely unbroken: the charge Q..and the electron number N.
1968 M. S. Livingston Particle Physics xii. 201 One consequence of the translational symmetry of space is the invariance of physical laws under translation from one location to another.
1974 H. Frauenfelder & E. M. Henley Subatomic Physics vi. 154 Some of the symmetries are perfect even under closest scrutiny, and no breakdown in the corresponding conservation law has ever been found. Rotational symmetry and conservation of angular momentum are one example.
(b) Mathematics and Logic. The fact of being symmetrical, as an expression or function: see symmetrical adj. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > algebra > [noun] > algebraic property
associativeness1878
symmetry1888
associativity1926
idempotence1934
distributivity1940
idempotency1940
the world > relative properties > number > algebra > [noun] > expression > function > property of
discontinuity1803
functionality1857
self-conjugation1866
covariance1878
symmetry1888
monogeneity1906
recursion1913
recursive definition1935
holomorphy1957
unateness1960
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > predicate or propositional logic > [noun] > propositional function > other elements or qualities
symmetry1888
indefinability1903
tie1918
1888 Amer. Jrnl. Math. 10 173 Notes on Geometric Inferences from Algebraic Symmetry.
1931 Jrnl. Philos. 28 285 The investigation and application of the structural properties of relations—symmetry, reflexivity, transitivity—has been of fundamental importance in the epistemology of Carnap and others.
1967 S. C. Kleene Math. Logic iii. 158 Sometimes ‘equality’ is used in a different sense, so that it possesses only the first three properties (reflexivity, symmetry and transitivity).
c. (a) Anatomy and Zoology. Arrangement of parts or organs in pairs or sets on opposite sides of a dividing plane, or around an axis or centre; repetition of similar corresponding parts in the two halves, or other number of divisions, of the body. (Nearly coinciding with 3b or the stricter use in 2, except that corresponding parts are not necessarily equal, nor do all the parts necessarily correspond.) (b) Pathology. Affection of such corresponding parts simultaneously by the same disease.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > positions or directions in body > [noun] > arrangement of parts or organs around axis or centre
symmetry1849
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > characteristics > [noun] > correlation or sympathy between parts
sympathy1603
associability1865
symmetry1886
1849–52 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. ii. 845 Symmetry is a word used to express..the fact, that one half of an animal is usually an exact reversed copy of the other... To this there are numerous exceptions.
1886 P. H. Pye-Smith Fagge's Princ. & Pract. Med. II. 619 Symmetrical distribution means that exactly the corresponding parts on the right and left side are simultaneously affected... This is bilateral symmetry, but we also see examples of serial symmetry in pathology where the same condition is seen on the elbow and the knee, the wrist and the ankle.
d. Botany. Equality of the number of parts in the several whorls of the flower: see symmetrical adj. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [noun] > symmetry or arrangement of
symmetry1845
polysymmetry1875
pleiomery1887
1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Familiar Lect. Bot. (new ed.) 138 The symmetry of structure observable in [Enchanter's Night-shade] is seen in many flowers.
1849 J. H. Balfour Man. Bot. §643 When the number of parts is two, the flower is dimerous..and the symmetry two-membered. When the number of parts is three, the flower is trimerous, and when the parts are arranged in an alternating manner, the symmetry is trigonal or triangular [etc.].
1908 G. Henslow How to study Wild Flowers 113 The flowers [of Lythrum Salicaria] vary in symmetry; for sometimes the central flower will differ from the lateral ones in the number of parts.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
symmetry principle n.
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1968 M. S. Livingston Particle Physics xii. 201 It is possible that the number of such symmetry principles is limited and that they are interrelated.
1968 M. S. Livingston Particle Physics xii. 201 One of the most basic symmetry principles is that of the homogeneity of space and the associated symmetry of time.
1977 Dædalus Fall 31 Some theorists turned to the study of symmetry principles and conservation laws, which can be applied to physical phenomena without detailed dynamical calculations.
symmetry property n.
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1935 L. Pauling & E. B. Wilson Introd. Quantum Mech. xiv. 388 The symmetry properties of molecular wave functions.
1968 M. S. Livingston Particle Physics iii. 58 The type of quantum statistics which applies to a system of particles (all of one kind) is related to the symmetry properties of the wave function describing this system of particles.
C2.
symmetry-breaking adj. and n. Physics (causing) the absence of manifest symmetry in a situation despite its presence in the laws of nature underlying it.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > quantum theory > quantum mechanics > symmetry, conserved properly > [noun] > absence of
symmetry-breaking1961
the world > matter > physics > quantum theory > quantum mechanics > symmetry, conserved properly > [adjective] > causing absence of
symmetry-breaking1961
1961 M. Gell-Mann in Gell-Mann & Ne'eman Eightfold Way (1964) We attempt..to treat the eight known baryons as a supermultiplet, degenerate in the limit of a certain symmetry but split into isotopic spin multiplets by a symmetry-breaking term.
1977 Dædalus Summer 29 As a result of this symmetry-breaking, the quanta of the weak interactions are predicted to acquire a mass approximately forty or more times heavier than that of a proton.
1981 Nature 10 Dec. 522/1 The usual analogy used for spontaneous symmetry breaking is ferromagnetism. Maxwell's equations are rotationally invariant; however, below the Curie temperature the rotational invariance of a ferromagnet is spontaneously broken when the magnetization chooses a specific direction.
symmetry group n. a group (group n. 7) whose elements are all the symmetry operations of a particular entity.
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the world > matter > physics > quantum theory > quantum mechanics > symmetry, conserved properly > [noun] > operation resulting in > group resulting from
symmetry group1956
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > numerical arrangement > [noun] > set > in abstract algebra > groups
syntheme1844
group1854
substitution group1861
quaternion group1881
subgroup1881
Abelian group1892
permutation group1893
quotient group1893
factor group1895
order1897
symmetric group1897
point group1903
Sylow subgroup1905
module1927
Lie group1939
symmetry group1956
Weyl group1961
stabilizer1965
1956 Nature 10 Mar. 458/1 To-day the instinctive reaction of every theoretical physicist, confronted with an unexplained regularity in the behaviour of elementary particles, is to postulate an underlying symmetry-group.
1975 I. Stewart Concepts Mod. Math. vii. 97 Every shape has a symmetry group.
1981 Sci. Amer. Apr. 50/2 The SU(2) × U(1) theory is only a partial unification because it still includes two distinct forces, each with its own symmetry group and its own coupling constant.
symmetry operation n. Physics an operation or transformation that leaves something effectively unchanged.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > dynamics > [noun] > operation leaving something unchanged
symmetry operation1952
the world > matter > physics > quantum theory > quantum mechanics > symmetry, conserved properly > [noun] > operation resulting in
symmetry operation1952
1952 H. Weyl Symmetry 27 For forms fixed to the bottom of the ocean the direction of gravity is an important factor, narrowing the set of symmetry operations from all rotations around the center P to all rotations about an axis.
1973 B. H. Bransden et al. Fund. Particles iv. 56 The symmetry operations with which we are concerned are transformations of the dynamical variable that leave the Hamiltonian operator unaltered.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1919; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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