parallel
parallel
(părʹə-lĕl) adjective
Abbr. par.
1.
Being an equal distance apart everywhere: dancers in two parallel rows.
2.
Mathematics. a. Of, relating to, or designating two or more straight coplanar lines that do not intersect. b. Of, relating to, or designating two or more planes that do not intersect. c. Of, relating to, or designating a line and a plane that do not intersect. d. Of, relating to, or designating curves or surfaces everywhere equidistant.
3. a. Having comparable parts, analogous aspects, or readily recognized similarities: the parallel lives of two contemporaries. b. Having the same tendency or direction: parallel motives and aims.
4. Grammar. Having identical or equivalent syntactic constructions in corresponding clauses or phrases.
5. Music. Moving consistently by the same intervals: harmony with parallel voices.
6. Electronics. Denoting a circuit or part of a circuit connected in parallel.
7. Computer Science. a. Of or relating to the simultaneous transmission of all the bits of a byte over separate wires: a parallel part; a parallel printer. b. Of or relating to the simultaneous performance of multiple operations: parallel processing.
adverb
In a parallel relationship or manner: a road and a railway that run parallel.
noun
Abbr.
par.
1.
Mathematics. One of a set of parallel geometric figures, such as lines or planes.
2. a. One that closely resembles or is analogous to another: a unique event, without parallel in history. b. A comparison indicating likeness; an analogy.
3. The condition of being parallel; near similarity or exact agreement in particulars; parallelism.
4. Any of the imaginary lines representing degrees of latitude that encircle the earth parallel to the plane of the equator.
5. Printing. A sign indicating material referred to in a note or reference.
6. Electronics. An arrangement of components in a circuit that splits the current into two or more paths. Used chiefly in the phrase in parallel.
verb
, transitive
paralleled
also parallelled, paralleling parallelling, parallels parallels
1.
To make or place parallel to something else: paralleled the ditch to the highway.
2.
To be or extend parallel to: a trail that parallels the crater rim.
3.
To be similar or analogous to: claimed that fetal development parallels the evolution of the species.
4.
To be or provide an equal for; match.
5.
To show to be analogous; compare or liken: critics who have paralleled the novel's plot to an ancient myth.
[Latin parallēlus, from Greek parallēlos : para, beside. See
para-1 + allēlōn, of one another (from allos, other).]
Usage Note:
In its mathematical usage parallel is an absolute termtwo lines either do or do not intersectand as such does not admit of qualification as to degree. Some grammarians have argued that this restriction should apply as well to nontechnical uses of the word. According to this logic, one may not say The two roads have been made more parallel, except perhaps as a loose way of saying what is rendered more precisely by expressions such as more nearly parallel. Like the analogous objection that has been made to the comparison of equal, the point betrays a misconception about the relation between mathematical concepts and their ordinary-language equivalents. Applied to objects in the world, parallel can only denote a rough approximation to a geometric ideal. A pair of rails or parked cars cannot be truly parallel in the mathematician's sense of the term but only more or less so, just as a road or shelf cannot be truly straight in the geometric sense but nonetheless may be described as very straight or relatively straight. The grammarians' compunctions make even less sense when applied to metaphorical uses of parallel, as in The difficulties faced by the Republicans are quite parallel to those that confronted the Democrats four years ago, in which the intended meaning has nothing to do with the possibility of intersection but instead suggests the structural correspondence of two distinct situations. In this sense, parallelism is clearly a matter of degree and the word parallel can be modified accordingly.