Etymology
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From Middle French parallèle, borrowed from Latin parallelus.
Pronunciation
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Adjective
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parallel (not comparable)
- Equally distant from one another at all points.
The horizontal lines on my notebook paper are parallel.
- Having the same overall direction; the comparison is indicated with "to".
The two railway lines are parallel.
1711 July 2 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, Richard Steele [et al.], “THURSDAY, June 21, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 99; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:When honour runs parallel with the laws of God and our country, it cannot be too much cherished.
- (hyperbolic geometry, said of a pair of lines) Either not intersecting, or coinciding.[1]
- Antonyms: perpendicular, skew
- (computing) Involving the processing of multiple tasks at the same time.
- Antonyms: serial, sequential
- Coordinate term: concurrent
a parallel algorithm
- (figurative) Analogous, similar, comparable.
the parallel lives of two citizens
- (science fiction, of realities, dimensions, timelines, etc.) Coexisting but normally not interacting with the regular reality.
parallel universe
Antonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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equally distant from one another at all points
having the same overall direction
hyperbolic geometry, said of a pair of lines: either not intersecting, or coinciding
computing: processing multiple tasks at the same time
Translations to be checked
parallel (comparative more parallel, superlative most parallel)
- With a parallel relationship.
- The road runs parallel to the canal.
Related terms
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Translations
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with a parallel relationship
parallel (plural parallels)
- One of a set of parallel lines.
- Direction conformable to that of another line.
1699, Samuel Garth, The Dispensary:lines that from their parallel decline
- A line of latitude.
- The 31st parallel passes through the center of my town.
- An arrangement of electrical components such that a current flows along two or more paths; see in parallel.
- Something identical or similar in essential respects.
- A comparison made; elaborate tracing of similarity.
- Johnson's parallel between Dryden and Pope
- (military) One of a series of long trenches constructed before a besieged fortress, by the besieging force, as a cover for troops supporting the attacking batteries. They are roughly parallel to the line of outer defenses of the fortress.
- (printing) A character consisting of two parallel vertical lines, used in the text to direct attention to a similarly marked note in the margin or at the foot of a page.
Translations
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one of a set of parallel lines
something identical or similar in essential respects
elaborate tracing of one or more similarities
parallel (third-person singular simple present parallels, present participle paralleling or (UK, nonstandard) parallelling, simple past and past participle paralleled or (UK, nonstandard) parallelled)
- To construct or place something parallel to something else.
- Of a path etc: To be parallel to something else.
1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 6, in The Whisperer in Darkness:Archaic covered bridges lingered fearsomely out of the past in pockets of the hills, and the half-abandoned railway track paralleling the river seemed to exhale a nebulously visible air of desolation.
2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 66:Racing on, we parallel the M5 doing 95mph, according to the app on my smartphone.
- Of a process etc: To be analogous to something else.
- To compare or liken something to something else.
2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 119:These scholars argue that gender and sexual identity are like nature and the environment; they parallel the queer/performance connection to the environmental/performance connection. I consider, instead, how all these categories actively interact and overlap.
- To make to conform to something else in character, motive, aim, etc.
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:His life is parallelled / Even with the stroke and line of his great justice.
- To equal; to match; to correspond to.
c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:He will steale sir an Egge out of a Cloister: for
rapes and rauishments he paralels Nessus.
- To produce or adduce as a parallel.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:My young remembrance cannot parallel / A fellow to it.
1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, III.2.2.iv:Who cannot parallel these stories out of his experience?
Derived terms
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Terms derived from the adjective, adverb, noun, or verb parallel
Translations
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to construct or place something parallel to something else
of a path etc: to be parallel to something else
of a process etc: to be analogous to something else
to compare or liken something to something else
See also
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References
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