vertex Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun the point of intersection of lines or the point opposite the base of a figure
noun the highest point (of something)
apex; peak; acme.
- at the peak of the pyramid

L. vertex, -icis, a whirl, top of the head, top, summit, from vertere to turn. See Verse, and cf. Vortex.

plural Vertexes L Vertices

A turning point; the principal or highest point; top; summit; crown; apex. Specifically: -- (a) (Anat.) The top, or crown, of the head. (b) (Anat.) The zenith, or the point of the heavens directly overhead. (c) (Math.) The point in any figure opposite to, and farthest from, the base; the terminating point of some particular line or lines in a figure or a curve; the top, or the point opposite the base. ✍ The principal vertex of a conic section is, in the parabola, the vertex of the axis of the curve: in the ellipse, either extremity of either axis, but usually the left-hand vertex of the transverse axis; in the hyperbola, either vertex, but usually the right-hand vertex of the transverse axis.