curve

[ kurv ]

noun

1. a continuously bending line, without angles.
2. the act or extent of curving.
3. any curved outline, form, thing, or part.
4. a curved section of a road, path, hallway, etc.
5. 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.
6. Baseball.
   1. curveball ( def ).
   2. the path followed by a ball pitched as a curveball:

      The curve on that ball was nasty!

7. a graphic representation of the variations effected in something by the influence of changing conditions; graph.
8. Mathematics. a collection of points whose coordinates are continuous functions of a single independent variable.
9. a misleading or deceptive trick; cheat; deception.
10. 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.

11. a curved guide used in drafting.

verb (used with object)

, curved, curv·ing.

1. to bend in a curve; cause to take the course of a curve.
2. to grade on a curve.

verb (used without object)

, curved, curv·ing.

1. to bend in a curve; take the course of a curve.
2. Baseball. to pitch a curveball:

   After two forkballs, Stewart curved to Hernandez for a called strike.

adjective

1. having the shape of a curve; curved.

curve

/ ˈkɜːvɪdlɪ; kɜːv /

noun

1. a continuously bending line that has no straight parts
2. something that curves or is curved, such as a bend in a road or the contour of a woman's body
3. the act or extent of curving; curvature
4. maths
   1. a system of points whose coordinates satisfy a given equation; a locus of points
   2. the graph of a function with one independent variable
5. a line representing data, esp statistical data, on a graph

   an unemployment curve

6. ahead of the curve
   ahead of the times; ahead of schedule
7. behind the curve
   behind the times; behind schedule
8. short for French curve

verb

1. to take or cause to take the shape or path of a curve; bend

curve

/ kûrv /

1. A line or surface that bends in a smooth, continuous way without sharp angles.
2. The graph of a function on a coordinate plane. In this technical sense, straight lines, circles, and waves are all curves.

Derived Forms

• ˈcurvedness, noun
• ˈcurvy, adjective
• curvedly, adverb

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of curve¹

First recorded in 1565–75; from Middle French or directly from Latin curvus “crooked, bent, curved”

Word History and Origins

Origin of curve¹

C15: from Latin curvāre to bend, from curvus crooked

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. ahead of / behind the curve, at the forefront of (or lagging behind) recent developments, trends, etc.
2. throw (someone) a curve,
   1. to take (someone) by surprise, especially in a negative way.
   2. to mislead or deceive.
3. flatten the curve. flatten the curve.

More idioms and phrases containing curve

see throw a curve .

Example Sentences

From the beginning of his learning curve, Charles charges ahead with a mixture of professional determination, childlike glee and scientific precision — finding the atmosphere “rife with secrets, grudges, interpersonal issues.”

From Los Angeles Times

The researchers found that in birds, the tibial joint surfaces have curved arcs, and the shortened fibula is able to roll within the bird's drumstick for about its length relative to the tibia.

From Science Daily

Admittedly, there was a learning curve for Chu and others in the production.

From Los Angeles Times

His rhymes are intermittently clever and the chorus contains several sticky hooks, but that fresh, benevolent trickster’s energy that made “Old Town Road” feel so ahead of the curve still remains an elusive quantity.

From New York Times

She acknowledges there was a learning curve to handling crowds of that size so quickly.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bend
• buckle
• bulge
• coil
• crumple
• curl
• loop
• skew
• spiral
• swerve
• twist
• veer