three-dimensional

[three-di-men-shuh-nl, -dahy-]

adjective

1. having, or seeming to have, the dimension of depth as well as width and height.

2. (especially in a literary work) fully developed.

   The story came alive chiefly because the characters were vividly three-dimensional.

three-dimensional

adjective

1. of, having, or relating to three dimensions

   three-dimensional space

2. (of a film, transparency, etc) simulating the effect of depth by presenting slightly different views of a scene to each eye

3. having volume

4. lifelike or real

Other Word Forms

• threedimensionality noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of three-dimensional¹

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

The three-dimensional sign was installed as part of an $80-million face lift of the airport’s main entrance ahead of the Democratic National Convention in 2000.

From Los Angeles Times

The piece is a three-dimensional black box with a white dress made from bath towels and bedazzled gems displayed on a dress form mannequin inside.

From Los Angeles Times

He shows me a three-dimensional computer image of a mass grave in Izium where more than 400 bodies were discovered.

From BBC

“That feeling of being somewhere special in the middle of an isolated place allows us to create this very three-dimensional world they can inhabit.”

From Los Angeles Times

The most economical — and popular — prefab system remains modular construction, in which three-dimensional sections of a home are constructed in a factory.

From Los Angeles Times