noun
cone
KOHN
noun
1
A solid shape with a circular base that narrows smoothly to a single point.
"The ice cream sat on top of a crisp waffle cone."
"She drew a cone on the whiteboard to explain the volume formula."
2
A bright orange plastic marker, shaped like a cone, used to mark off areas on roads.
"Workers set out traffic cones around the pothole."
"The lane was closed off with a row of cones."
3
The woody, scaly fruit produced by pine and other conifer trees.
"Pine cones littered the forest floor."
"She collected fir cones for a Christmas decoration."
4
One of the light-sensitive cells in the retina responsible for detecting color.
"Cones in the eye let us see color, while rods handle low light."
How to Use Cone
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA shape that starts wide at one end and comes to a point — like an ice cream cone, a traffic cone, or a pine cone.
Common pairings
traffic cone
ice cream cone
pine cone
Word Forms
coned past tense, cones plural, Cones plural, cones singular
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The ice cream sat on top of a crisp waffle _____.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek kônos ("cone, spinning top, pine cone"), via Latin cōnus and Old French cone.