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A curved triangle of vaulting formed by the intersection of a dome with its supporting arches.
‘Convex looking glasses in each pendentive both explode and compress the space.’
‘The spaces are called spandrels - or pendentives, but the more general architectural term is spandrels.’
‘Two structural devices that are the hallmark of Byzantine engineering made this feat possible: pendentives and squinches.’
‘Each storey is articulated by a balcony, projecting on a system of stalactite pendentives - this feature appearing for the first time in India and no doubt imported from classical Islamic construction.’
‘His most important commission was for the apse and the pendentives beneath the cupola in; the dome was commissioned from his great rival, the Baroque painter.’
Origin
Early 18th century: from the French adjective pendentif, -ive, from Latin pendent- ‘hanging down’, from the verb pendere.