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Curve

//kɜːv// adj, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Bent without angles; crooked; curved. obsolete

    "a curve line"

Noun
  1. 1
    A gentle bend, such as in a road.

    "You should slow down when approaching a curve."

  2. 2
    a pitch of a baseball that is thrown with spin so that its path curves as it approaches the batter wordnet
  3. 3
    A simple figure containing no straight portions and no angles; a curved line.

    "She scribbled a curve on the paper."

  4. 4
    curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.) wordnet
  5. 5
    A grading system based on the scale of performance of a group used to normalize a right-skewed grade distribution (with more lower scores) into a bell curve, so that more can receive higher grades, regardless of their actual knowledge of the subject.

    "The teacher was nice and graded the test on a curve."

Show 9 more definitions
  1. 6
    the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface wordnet
  2. 7
    A grading system based on the scale of performance of a group used to normalize a right-skewed grade distribution (with more lower scores) into a bell curve, so that more can receive higher grades, regardless of their actual knowledge of the subject.; A grading system where all raw scores are raised by a set amount of points. broadly, nonstandard
  3. 8
    a line on a graph representing data wordnet
  4. 9
    A continuous map from a one-dimensional space to a multidimensional space. analytic
  5. 10
    the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes wordnet
  6. 11
    A one-dimensional figure of non-zero length; the graph of a continuous map from a one-dimensional space.
  7. 12
    An algebraic curve; a polynomial relation of the planar coordinates.
  8. 13
    A one-dimensional continuum.
  9. 14
    The attractive shape of a woman's body. informal, plural-normally
Verb
  1. 1
    To bend; to crook. transitive

    "to curve a line"

  2. 2
    form a curl, curve, or kink wordnet
  3. 3
    To cause to swerve from a straight course. transitive

    "to curve a ball in pitching it"

  4. 4
    turn sharply; change direction abruptly wordnet
  5. 5
    To bend or turn gradually from a given direction. intransitive

    "the road curves to the right"

Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    bend or cause to bend wordnet
  2. 7
    To grade on a curve (bell curve of a normal distribution). transitive

    "The teacher will curve the test."

  3. 8
    form an arch or curve wordnet
  4. 9
    To reject, to turn down romantic advances. slang, transitive

    "I was once curved three times by the same woman."

  5. 10
    extend in curves and turns wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

Attested since the 1690s, from Latin curvus (“bent, curved”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, curve, turn”) + *-wós. Doublet of curb, shrink, carcer, and cancer.

Etymology 2

Attested since the 1690s, from Latin curvus (“bent, curved”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, curve, turn”) + *-wós. Doublet of curb, shrink, carcer, and cancer.

Etymology 3

Attested since the 1690s, from Latin curvus (“bent, curved”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, curve, turn”) + *-wós. Doublet of curb, shrink, carcer, and cancer.

See also for "curve"

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