matroid

M3A1T1R1O1I1D2

noun

A structure that captures the essence of a notion of "independence" that generalizes linear independence in vector spaces and acyclicality in graphs.

“A matroid can be defined in terms of bases. A matroid consists of a ground set as well as a set of bases which is a nonempty subset of the power set of the ground set.”

UncommonScrabble 10
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounmatroid (plural matroids)

plural matroids

  1. combinatoricsA structure that captures the essence of a notion of "independence" that generalizes linear independence in vector spaces and acyclicality in graphs.

    A matroid can be defined in terms of bases. A matroid consists of a ground set as well as a set of bases which is a nonempty subset of the power set of the ground set.

Origin

From matrix + -oid. They were so named by Hassler Whitney in 1935 in an article titled “On the abstract properties of linear dependence”.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish matroidi
  • matroidiTranslations
French matroïde
  • matroïdeTranslations
Italian matroide
  • matroideTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

matroid. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/matroid

MLA

“matroid.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/matroid. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “matroid,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/matroid.

Source: matroid on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.