Parallel
English Meaning
Extended in the same direction, and in all parts equally distant; as, parallel lines; parallel planes.
- Being an equal distance apart everywhere: dancers in two parallel rows. See Usage Note at absolute.
- Mathematics Of, relating to, or designating two or more straight coplanar lines that do not intersect.
- Mathematics Of, relating to, or designating two or more planes that do not intersect.
- Mathematics Of, relating to, or designating a line and a plane that do not intersect.
- Mathematics Of, relating to, or designating curves or surfaces everywhere equidistant.
- Having comparable parts, analogous aspects, or readily recognized similarities: the parallel lives of two contemporaries.
- Having the same tendency or direction: parallel motives and aims.
- Grammar Having identical or equivalent syntactic constructions in corresponding clauses or phrases.
- Music Moving in the same direction at a fixed interval: parallel motion; parallel fifths.
- Music Having the same tonic. Used of scales and keys: C minor is the parallel minor scale of C major.
- Electronics Denoting a circuit or part of a circuit connected in parallel.
- Computer Science Of or relating to the simultaneous transmission of all the bits of a byte over separate wires: a parallel port; a parallel interface.
- Computer Science Of or relating to the simultaneous performance of multiple operations: parallel processing.
- In a parallel relationship or manner: a road and a railway that run parallel.
- Mathematics One of a set of parallel geometric figures, such as lines or planes.
- One that closely resembles or is analogous to another: a unique event, without parallel in history.
- A comparison indicating likeness; an analogy.
- The condition of being parallel; near similarity or exact agreement in particulars; parallelism.
- Any of the imaginary lines representing degrees of latitude that encircle the earth parallel to the plane of the equator.
- Printing A sign indicating material referred to in a note or reference.
- Electronics An arrangement of components in a circuit that splits the current into two or more paths. Used chiefly in the phrase in parallel.
- To make or place parallel to something else: paralleled the ditch to the highway.
- To be or extend parallel to: a trail that parallels the crater rim.
- To be similar or analogous to: claimed that fetal development parallels the evolution of the species.
- To be or provide an equal for; match.
- To show to be analogous; compare or liken: critics who have paralleled the novel's plot to an ancient myth.
