What is a quadrilateral? Definition and Examples

What is a quadrilateral? A quadrilateral is a shape that has all the following characteristics:

• It is two-dimensional

• It has four sides

• It is closed

The figure shown below meets all the characteristics above and therefore is a quadrilateral.

Properties of a quadrilateral

• The sum of the interior angles is equal to 360 degrees

• The quadrilateral can be regular or irregular

• The quadrilateral has 4 sides, 4 angles, and 4 vertices

Special quadrilaterals

Special quadrilaterals refer to the six quadrilaterals below that are given special names based on how the sides and/or angles are formed.

• Rectangle

• Parallelogram

• Rhombus

• Square

• Kite

• Trapezoid