palindrome

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See also: Palindrome

English

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 palindrome on Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Ancient Greek παλίνδρομος (palíndromos, running back again), from πάλιν (pálin, back, again, back again) + δρόμος (drómos, running, race, racecourse). By surface analysis, palin- +‎ -drome (compare also velodrome and syndrome).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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Examples
  • “Rise to vote, sir” (sentence palindrome)
  • level, madam, racecar (single word palindromes)

palindrome (plural palindromes)

  1. A word, phrase, number or any other sequence of units which has the property of reading the same forwards as it does backwards, character for character, sometimes disregarding punctuation, capitalization and diacritics.
    • 2017, Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird, spoken by Christine ‘Lady Bird’ McPherson:
      The only thing exciting about 2002 is that it's a palindrome.
  2. (by extension) A poetic form in which the sequence of words reads the same in either direction.
  3. (by extension) A sequence of items that follows the same pattern both forwards and backwards.
    • 1998, Dolores Pesce, Hearing the Motet, page 93:
      A conjunct palindrome from notes 5 to 11, D D E F E D D, abuts the only melodically disjunct group E G D (notes 12–14), and at the same time contributes to a melodic sequence with the opening four notes.
    • 2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 67:
      The shops opposite were a High Street palindrome — Korean gorocery, courier service, letting abgents, courier service, Korean grocery — and buses passed with noisy frequency.
    • 2015, Syne Mitchell, Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom:
      The color sequence in the palindrome skein is the same no metter whether you start from the left or right.
  4. (genetics) A stretch of DNA in which the sequence of nucleotides on one strand are in the reverse order to that of the complementary strand

Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Ancient Greek παλίνδρομος (palíndromos).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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palindrome m (plural palindromes)

  1. palindrome

Further reading

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Italian

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Adjective

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palindrome f

  1. feminine plural of palindromo

Anagrams

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