curve
pronunciation
How to pronounce curve in British English:
UK [kɜːv]
How to pronounce curve in American English:
US [kɜːrv]
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- Noun:
- the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes
- a line on a graph representing data
- a baseball thrown with spin so that its path curves as it approach the batter
- the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface
- curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.)
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- Verb:
- turn sharply; change direction abruptly
- extend in curves and turns
- form an arch or curve
- bend or cause to bend
- form a curl, curve, or kink
Word Origin
- curve
- curve: [15] Curve has a wide circle of relations in English. It comes from Latin curvus ‘curved’, which had connections with Greek kurtós ‘curved’, Greek korōnos ‘curved’ (source of English crown), and Greek kírkos ‘ring, circle’ (source of English circle). When English acquired it, it was still an adjective, and English did not convert it into a noun until the 17th century.=> circle, crown, curb
- curve (v.)
- early 15c. (implied in curved), from Latin curvus "crooked, curved, bent," and curvare "to bend," both from PIE root *(s)ker- (2) "to turn, bend" (see ring (n.)).
- curve (n.)
- 1690s, "curved line," from curve (v.). With reference to the female figure (usually plural, curves), from 1862; as a type of baseball pitch, from 1879.
Example
- 1. Full declarative syntax allows for an easy learning curve .
- 2. It is built in a curve , facing the prevailing winds .
- 3. The biopic is obliged to follow most of the life 's curve ; it also must implicitly follow truth 's curve when inventing .
- 4. What sort of demand curve is that ?
- 5. Deforestation follows a kuznets curve , too .