catenary
Example Sentences
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Its form is that of the catenary curve, the most perfect shape for an arch, and the only one that requires no buttressing from the side.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
An engineering feat, for sure, the resulting catenary curve in the sagging line is a visual treat as well, buoyant and struggling against the pull of gravity for no other reason than to delight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2025
“I see the stations, the empty parking spaces, the catenary wires that power the trains, and think surely we should put it to use,” Sound Transit board member Claudia Balducci, of Bellevue, said last week.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 9, 2022
In late works from 2019, a skeleton holds an oversize skull over his groin, and in other works, based on a string draped into a catenary curve, the repetition of the motif creates a veil.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 29, 2021
To eliminate any possibility of the trolley wire breaking, a strong steel cable, called a catenary, was slung just above the trolley wire.
From Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive, or, Two Miles a Minute on the Rails by Victor [pseud.] Appleton
Power is often still carried on lines that hang in graceful catenaries of various depths from poles that lean left or right randomly but rarely stand straight.
From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2012
A relief sculpture by Charles Biederman or the prodigious steel catenaries of Othmar H. Ammann's design for the George Washington Bridge?
From Time Magazine Archive
It is true, they will not be exact catenaries, but they will depart very little from it; much less than portions of circles will.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph
The catenaries which lie beyond the two generate surfaces whose radius of curvature convex towards the axis in the meridian plane is greater than the radius of concave curvature.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various
Every catenary lying between them has its directrix higher, and every catenary lying beyond them has its directrix lower than that of the two catenaries.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various
Vocabulary lists containing catenary
Structural Engineering
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Engineering - High School
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