parallel
adjective · verb · noun · adverb
Simple meaning
Having the same overall direction.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pehruhlelSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɛɹəlɛl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Equally distant from one another at all points.
Having the same overall direction; the comparison is indicated with "to".
figuratively
Analogous, similar, comparable.
Being everywhere equidistant and not intersecting
verb
To equal; to match; to correspond to.
To compare or liken something to something else.
Of a process etc: To be analogous to something else.
To make to conform to something else in character, motive, aim, etc.
Make or place parallel to something
“They paralleled the ditch to the highway.”
To construct or place something parallel to something else.
noun
Something identical or similar in essential respects.
A comparison made; elaborate tracing of similarity.
Direction conformable to that of another line.
An arrangement of electrical components such that a current flows along two or more paths; see in parallel.
adverb
With a parallel relationship.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Having the same overall direction; the comparison is indicated with "to".
Used this way, parallel is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use parallel
- “They paralleled the ditch to the highway.”verb
- “Parallel lines never converge.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Similarity by virtue of corresponding.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A collection of biographies of famous pairs of Greeks and Romans written by Plutarch.
An imaginary line around the Earth parallel to the equator.
The simultaneous execution of two or more operations.
Park directly behind another vehicle.
An interface between a computer and a printer where the computer sends multiple bits of information to the printer simultaneously.
Simultaneous processing by two or more processing units.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: equally distant from one another at all points
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.