What is a quadrilateral? Definition and Examples


What is a quadrilateral? A quadrilateral is a shape that has all the following characteristics:

  • It is two-dimensional
  • It has four sides
  • It is closed

The meaning of two-dimensional is that the figure is flat.

The meaning of four sides is that it is made with four lines

The meaning of closed is that all the lines meet 

The figure shown below meets all the characteristics above and therefore is a quadrilateral.

quadrilateral

Properties of a quadrilateral

  • The sum of the interior angles is equal to 360 degrees
  • The quadrilateral can be regular or irregular
  • The quadrilateral has 4 sides, 4 angles, and 4 vertices

Special quadrilaterals

Special quadrilaterals refer to the six quadrilaterals below that are given special names based on how the sides and/or angles are formed.

  • Rectangle
  • Parallelogram
  • Rhombus
  • Square
  • Kite
  • Trapezoid

Homepage

Math words beginning with the letter q

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