curve · Contextualize

Etymology

Attested since the 1690s, from Latin curvus (“bent, curved”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, curve, turn”) + *-wós. Doublet of curb, shrink, carcer, and cancer.

derived from *(s)ker-✻
derived from curvus — “bent, curved”

Definitions

1
Bent without angles
Bent without angles; crooked; curved.
- a curve line
- a curve surface
2
A gentle bend, such as in a road.
- You should slow down when approaching a curve.
3
A simple figure containing no straight portions and no angles
A simple figure containing no straight portions and no angles; a curved line.
- She scribbled a curve on the paper.
›+ 11 more definitionsshow fewer
1. 4
  A grading system based on the scale of performance of a group used to normalize a…
  A grading system based on the scale of performance of a group used to normalize a right-skewed grade distribution (with more lower scores) into a bell curve, so that more can receive higher grades, regardless of their actual knowledge of the subject.
  - The teacher was nice and graded the test on a curve.
2. A continuous map from a one-dimensional space to a multidimensional space.
3. A one-dimensional figure of non-zero length
  A one-dimensional figure of non-zero length; the graph of a continuous map from a one-dimensional space.
4. An algebraic curve
  An algebraic curve; a polynomial relation of the planar coordinates.
5. A one-dimensional continuum.
6. The attractive shape of a woman's body.
7. 10
  To bend
  To bend; to crook.
  - to curve a line
  - to curve a pipe
8. 11
  To cause to swerve from a straight course.
  - to curve a ball in pitching it
9. 12
  To bend or turn gradually from a given direction.
  - the road curves to the right
  - […] the shoulders not too wide above, bowing outward from the top to the breast; the back flat from shoulder to tail; the ribs extending horizontally and backwards, and then curving down barrelwise; […]
  - The double-track branch curves away southwards at the south end of the station and runs on a banked down gradient gradually losing sight of the main line.
10. 13
  To grade on a curve (bell curve of a normal distribution).
  - The teacher will curve the test.
11. 14
  To reject, to turn down romantic advances.
  - I was once curved three times by the same woman.

The neighborhood

Derived

above the curve, aerocurve, ahead of the curve, algebraic curve, Allen curve, bathtub curve, battleship curve, battleship-shaped curve, bean curve, behind the curve, bell curve, bell curve god, Bethe-Slater curve, Beveridge curve, Bézier curve, blancmange curve, blind curve, caustic curve, closed curve, closed timelike curve, cocked hat curve, compound curve, concentration-time curve, contract curve, cosine curve, counter curve, countercurve, cubic curve, curvaceous, curveball, curve-billed thrasher, curve-billed tinamou, curve deficiency, curve flattening, curveless, curvelet, curve of pursuit, curvesome, curvilinear, curvimeter · +101 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at curve. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

A definitional loop anchored at curve. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at curve

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.