parallel
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpæɹəlɛl/
note: without the Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈpæɹəˌlɛl/
enpr: păr′ə-lĕl'
note: without the Mary–marry–merry merger
note: General American, Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈpɛɹəˌlɛl/
enpr: pĕr′ə-lĕl'
note: General American, Mary–marry–merry merger
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈpar(ə)ləl/
Forms: form: paralell
Etymology: From Middle French parallèle and its etymon Latin parallēlus, parallēlos. The verb is from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: The horizontal lines on my notebook paper are parallel.
text: the instrument held with its plane roughly parallel to the equinoctial or celestial equato
ref: 1911, William Robert Martin, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Navigation:
text: Upon interaction with ss- nucleic acid (NA) targets (deoxyribooligonucleotides (ODNs) or ribooligonucleotides), they form very stable anti-parallel and parallel duplexes [3 ], and the melting temperatures of the antiparallel duplexes are 10 to 15°C higher than those of the parallel duplexes.
ref: 2015 October 16, “Polyanionic Carboxyethyl Peptide Nucleic Acids ( ce -PNAs): Synthesis and DNA Binding”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:
glosses: Equally distant from one another at all points.
examples: text: The two railway lines are parallel.
text: When honour runs parallel with the laws of God and our country, it cannot be too much cherished.
ref: 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:
text: All three parallel valleys of the Llynvi, Garw and Ogmore are much the same in physical character: the lower reaches are wooded and not unattractive, but as the railway climbs on ever-steepening grades, the hills on either hand grow barer and closer together, while in all respects the scene becomes more sombre, with the terraced, slate-roofed colliery towns and the road, railway and river all struggling for space in the narrowing defiles.
ref: 1955 July, D. S. Barrie, “Railways of the Bridgend District”, in Railway Magazine, page 449:
glosses: Having the same overall direction; the comparison is indicated with "to".
topics: geometry
mathematics
sciences
antonyms: perpendicular
skew
glosses: Either not intersecting, or coinciding.
raw_tags: said of a pair of lines
examples: text: a parallel algorithm
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
antonyms: serial
sequential
coordinate_terms: concurrent
glosses: Involving the processing of multiple tasks at the same time.
examples: text: the parallel lives of two citizens
text: In those days she had admired his pluralistic openness of mind, and struggled, in her kitchen, towards a parallel eclecticism, learning to cook the dosas and uttapams of South India as well as the soft meatballs of Kashmir.
ref: 1988, Salman Rushdie, chapter V, in The Satanic Verses, page 255:
glosses: Analogous, similar, comparable.
examples: text: parallel universe
topics: literature
media
publishing
science-fiction
qualifier: dimensions
glosses: Coexisting but normally not interacting with the regular reality.
raw_tags: of realities
Derived terms: autoparallel
biparallel
embarrassingly parallel
frontoparallel
hyperparallel
massively parallel
multiparallel
nonparallel
parallelable
parallel axis theorem
parallel bars
parallel citation
parallel compression
parallel cousin
parallel dead space
parallel giant slalom
parallel gill trama
parallel immersion
parallel import
parallelisation
parallelise
parallelistic
parallelity
parallelization
parallelize
parallel key
parallelless
parallel motion
parallelness
parallelohedron
parallel palette
parallel park
parallel parking
parallel play
parallel port
parallel postulate
parallel processing
parallel ruler
parallel slalom
parallel text
parallel transport
parallelwise
parallel world
plane-parallel
planoparallel
pseudoparallel
quasiparallel
subparallel
superparallel
teleparallel
ultraparallel
unparallel
Related terms: parallax