parallelism

American  

[par-uh-le-liz-uhm, -luh-liz-] / ˈpær ə lɛˌlɪz əm, -ləˌlɪz- /

noun

1. the position or relation of parallels.

2. agreement in direction, tendency, or character; the state or condition of being parallel.

3. a parallel or comparison.

4. Metaphysics. the doctrine that mental and bodily processes are concomitant, each varying with variation of the other, but that there is no causal relation of interaction between the two.

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parallelism British  

/ ˈpærəlɛˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. the state of being parallel

2. grammar the repetition of a syntactic construction in successive sentences for rhetorical effect

3. philosophy the dualistic doctrine that mental and physical processes are regularly correlated but are not causally connected, so that, for example, pain always accompanies, but is not caused by, a pin-prick Compare interactionism occasionalism

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Other Word Forms

• nonparallelism noun
• parallelist noun

Etymology

Origin of parallelism

First recorded in 1600–10; parallel + -ism