parallel

With a parallel relationship.

Adjective

  1. Equally distant from one another at all points.
    • The horizontal lines on my notebook paper are parallel.
    • the instrument held with its plane roughly parallel to the equinoctial or celestial equato - 1911, William Robert Martin, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Navigation:
    • 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...
  2. Having the same overall direction; the comparison is indicated with "to".
    • The two railway lines are parallel.
    • When honour runs parallel with the laws of God and our country, it cannot be too much cherished. - 1711 July 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, June 21, 1711”, in The Spectator,...
    • 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...
  3. Either not intersecting, or coinciding.

    Antonyms: perpendicular skew

  4. Involving the processing of multiple tasks at the same time.
    • a parallel algorithm

    Antonyms: serial sequential

    Coordinate Terms: concurrent

  5. Analogous, similar, comparable.
    • the parallel lives of two citizens
    • 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...
  6. Coexisting but normally not interacting with the regular reality.
    • parallel universe

Origin

From Middle French parallèle and its etymon Latin parallēlus, parallēlos. The verb is from the noun. By surface analysis, par- + all- + -el.

Forms

paralell

Antonyms

antiparallel perpendicular skew

Related

parallax

Derived

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

Adverb

  1. With a parallel relationship.
    • The road runs parallel to the canal.

Forms

more parallel most parallel paralell

Related

parallelly

Noun

  1. One of a set of parallel lines.
    • Who made the spider parallels design, / Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line? - 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:
  2. Direction conformable to that of another line.
    • lines that from their parallel decline - 1699, Samuel Garth, The Dispensary:
  3. A line of latitude.
    • The 31st parallel passes through the center of my town.
  4. An arrangement of electrical components such that a current flows along two or more paths; see in parallel.
  5. Something identical or similar in essential respects.
    • It has also been suggested that environmental crimes might include the proposed crime of ‘ecocide’ or ‘geocide’, with proponents of this view attempting to draw parallels between destructive acts towards the environment...
    • None but thyself can be thy parallel. - 1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Third”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:
  6. A comparison made; elaborate tracing of similarity.
    • Johnson's parallel between Dryden and Pope
  7. 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.
  8. 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.

Forms

parallels paralell

Verb

  1. To construct or place something parallel to something else.
    • The needle […] doth parallel and place itself upon the true meridian. - 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:
  2. Of a path etc: To be parallel to something else.
    • 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. - 1931, H. P....
    • Racing on, we parallel the M5 doing 95mph, according to the app on my smartphone. - 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 66:
  3. Of a process etc: To be analogous to something else.
  4. To compare or liken something to something else.
    • Although its spokesmen do not hesitate to parallel their oppression to that of blacks, the gay male community has chosen to ignore the voices of black gay men. - 1984 April 14, Reginald Shepherd, “White Men's Black...
    • 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...
  5. To make to conform to something else in character, motive, aim, etc.
    • [H]is life is paralel’d / Euen with the ſtroke and line of his great Iuſtice: […] - c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies...
  6. To equal; to match; to correspond to.
    • He will ſteale ſir an Egge out of a Cloiſter: for rapes and rauiſhments he paralels Neſſus. - c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies,...
  7. To produce or adduce as a parallel.
    • Macb[eth]. ’Twas a rough Night. / Lenox. My young remembrance cannot paralell / A fellow to it. - c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories,...
    • Who cannot parallel theſe ſtories out of his experience? - 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Importunitie and Opportunity of the Place, Conference, Discourse, Singing, Dauncing, Musicke, Amorous...
    • Many have exerciſed their Wits in parallelling the Inconveniences of Regal and Popular Government, […] - 1680, Robert Filmer, “It Is Unnatural for the People to Govern, or Chose Governours”, in Patriarcha: or The...

Forms

parallels paralleling parallelling[UK nonstandard] paralleled parallelled[UK nonstandard] paralell

Related

sequential ∥

Derived

antiparallel embarrassingly parallel forty-ninth parallel imparalleled parallel algorithm parallel circuit parallel computing parallelism parallelogram parallel universe unparalleled