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curve
[ kurv ]
noun
- a continuously bending line, without angles.
- the act or extent of curving.
- any curved outline, form, thing, or part.
- a curved section of a road, path, hallway, etc.
- Railroads. a curved section of track: in the U.S. the curve is often expressed as the central angle, measured in degrees, of a curved section of track subtended by a chord 100 feet (30 meters) long degree of curve.
- Baseball.
- the path followed by a ball pitched as a curveball:
The curve on that ball was nasty!
- a graphic representation of the variations effected in something by the influence of changing conditions; graph.
- Mathematics. a collection of points whose coordinates are continuous functions of a single independent variable.
- Education. a grading system based on the scale of performance, so that those performing better relative to others in the group, regardless of their actual knowledge of the subject, receive high grades: Compare absolute ( def 10 ).
The new English professor grades on a curve.
- a curved guide used in drafting.
verb (used with object)
- to bend in a curve; cause to take the course of a curve.
- to grade on a curve.
verb (used without object)
- to bend in a curve; take the course of a curve.
- Baseball. to pitch a curveball:
After two forkballs, Stewart curved to Hernandez for a called strike.
adjective
- having the shape of a curve; curved.
curve
/ ˈkɜːvɪdlɪ; kɜːv /
noun
- a continuously bending line that has no straight parts
- something that curves or is curved, such as a bend in a road or the contour of a woman's body
- the act or extent of curving; curvature
- maths
- a system of points whose coordinates satisfy a given equation; a locus of points
- the graph of a function with one independent variable
- a line representing data, esp statistical data, on a graph
an unemployment curve
- ahead of the curveahead of the curve ahead of the times; ahead of schedule
- behind the curvebehind the curve behind the times; behind schedule
- See French curveshort for French curve
verb
- to take or cause to take the shape or path of a curve; bend
curve
/ kûrv /
- A line or surface that bends in a smooth, continuous way without sharp angles.
- The graph of a function on a coordinate plane. In this technical sense, straight lines, circles, and waves are all curves.
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Derived Forms
- ˈcurvedness, noun
- curvedly, adverb
- ˈcurvy, adjective
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Other Words From
- curv·ed·ly [kur, -vid-lee], adverb
- curv·ed·ness noun
- curve·less adjective
- un·curved adjective
- un·curv·ing adjective
- un·der·curve noun
- un·der·curve verb (used without object) undercurved undercurving
- well-curved adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of curve1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of curve1
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Idioms and Phrases
- ahead of / behind the curve, at the forefront of (or lagging behind) recent developments, trends, etc.
- throw (someone) a curve,
- to take (someone) by surprise, especially in a negative way.
- to mislead or deceive.
- flatten the curve. flatten the curve.
More idioms and phrases containing curve
see throw a curve .Discover More
Example Sentences
She and her sister went into business together in 1997, opening Curve Salon after a career in media.
Instead, break out a form-fitting garment — think skinny jeans or a curve-hugging dress.
In an airline seat, the hips and pelvis rotate forward and the S curve flattens.
After acknowledging that there has been a “bend in the curve” and a reason to hope, he warned against inaction.
“He also said, ‘We might be too ahead of the curve,’” Kudrow remembers.
He drew her back to him, and she yielded and settled closely in the curve of his arm, and he told her the story.
There is a sharp curve in the permanent way outside the station, so that a train is on you all of a sudden.
The tunnel itself includes a reverse curve, and, at the present time, railroad tracks and Stock Creek waters run through it.
He kept on grimly, however, never deviating from his perspective, which was the swampy ground on the outer curve of the bend.
The children watched him disappear around the curve and then turned to Jess expectantly.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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