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Definition of conic in English:

conic

Pronunciation /ˈkänik/ /ˈkɑnɪk/

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adjective

Mathematics

  • Of or like a cone.

    ‘At a zero field condition, the liquid crystal in the droplets was bistable, that is, the liquid crystal can be in either the reflecting planar state or the scattering focal conic state.’
    • ‘How this connects up to conventional conic orbits is not entirely clear.’
    • ‘The conic shape of the eight small cyclones around the top of each vacuum creates a dramatic shape, but they are in place to serve a purpose first.’
    • ‘The device looks like a conic bulb, which is connected to a discharge pump.’
    • ‘Conic aspheres can also be tested with spherical wavefronts at their conic conjugate points.’
    sharp, spearlike, needle-like, spear-shaped, V-shaped, tapering, tapered, cone-shaped, conic, conical, acute, sharp-cornered, wedge-shaped, sharp-edged, edged, jagged, spiky, spiked, barbed

noun

Mathematics
short for conic section
See also conics
‘The book contains a wealth of information concerning the projective geometry of conics and quadrics.’
  • ‘If all the vertices of a hexagon lie on a conic, and if the opposite sides intersect, then the points of intersection lie on a line.’
  • ‘In many cases, the result is that the edge of the source is imaged to the edge of the receiver, and the reflector profile that performs the mapping is an off-axis conic.’
  • ‘This theorem shows that if a cone is intersected by a plane in a conic, then the foci of the conic are the points where this plane is touched by the spheres inscribed in the cone.’
  • ‘If the sides of a polygon are restricted so that they pass through fixed points and all the vertices except one lie on fixed straight lines, the free vertex will describe a conic or a straight line.’

Origin

Late 16th century from modern Latin conicus, from Greek kōnikos, from kōnos ‘cone’.