Meanings
alternative sesqui-alterate
- archaicnot comparablemathematicsIn a ratio of 3 to 2 or 1½ times to 1.
9 and 6 are in a sesquialterate ratio.
3 more examples
[…]the ratio of 3 to 2, which is sesquialter, forms the symphony diapente[…]
1818, Iamblichus, translated by Thomas Taylor, Life of Pythagoras, page 328People ignorant of geometry did not know the sesquialterate ratio of the sphere, cylinder, and cone, and therefor no man could know it[…]
1859, Frances Power Cobbe, An Essay on Intuitive Morals: Being an Attempt to Popularize Ethical Science, page 84from Kepler's Rule of the periodical times of the Planets being in a sesquialterate proportion of their distances from the centers of their orbs I deduced […]
1888, Sir Isaac Newton, Portsmouth Collection of Books and Papers Written or Belonging to Sir Isaac Newton (page xviii)Synonyms: sesquialteral, sesquialter, sesquialteran, sescuple
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveIn a ratio of 3 to 2 or 1½ times to 1.
Origin
From Latin sesquialter (“one and a half times”) + -ate (adjective-forming suffix), from sesqui- (“a half and a”) + alter (“another, a second”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish puolitoistakertainen
- puolitoistakertainenTranslations
Latin sēsquialter, sestuplus
- sēsquialterTranslations
- sestuplusTranslations
Cite this entry
sesquialterate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sesquialterate
“sesquialterate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sesquialterate. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sesquialterate,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sesquialterate.
Source: sesquialterate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.