Library / English Dictionary

CURVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A pitch of a baseball that is thrown with spin so that its path curves as it approaches the batter

Synonyms:

bender; breaking ball; curve; curve ball

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("curve" is a kind of...):

delivery; pitch ((baseball) the act of throwing a baseball by a pitcher to a batter)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.)

Synonyms:

bend; curve

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("curve" is a kind of...):

section; segment (one of several parts or pieces that fit with others to constitute a whole object)

Domain category:

river (a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "curve"):

blind bend; blind curve (a curve or bend in the road that you cannot see around as you are driving)

elbow (a sharp bend in a road or river)

hairpin bend (a U-shaped bend in a road)

Holonyms ("curve" is a part of...):

road; route (an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation)

Derivation:

curve (form a curl, curve, or kink)

curve (turn sharply; change direction abruptly)

curve (extend in curves and turns)

curvey; curvy (having curves)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The property possessed by the curving of a line or surface

Synonyms:

curvature; curve

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("curve" is a kind of...):

configuration; conformation; contour; form; shape (any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "curve"):

curliness; waviness ((of hair) a tendency to curl)

straightness ((of hair) lack of a tendency to curl)

Derivation:

curve (form an arch or curve)

curve (extend in curves and turns)

curvey; curvy (having curves)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A line on a graph representing data

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("curve" is a kind of...):

line (a length (straight or curved) without breadth or thickness; the trace of a moving point)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "curve"):

regression curve; regression line (a smooth curve fitted to the set of paired data in regression analysis; for linear regression the curve is a straight line)

Holonyms ("curve" is a part of...):

graph; graphical record; graphical recording (a visual representation of the relations between certain quantities, represented as points, plotted with reference to a set of axes)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The trace of a point whose direction of motion changes

Synonyms:

curve; curved shape

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("curve" is a kind of...):

line (a length (straight or curved) without breadth or thickness; the trace of a moving point)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "curve"):

arc (a continuous portion of a circle)

crenation; crenature; crenel; crenelle; scallop (one of a series of rounded projections (or the notches between them) formed by curves along an edge (as the edge of a leaf or piece of cloth or the margin of a shell or a shriveled red blood cell observed in a hypertonic solution etc.))

spiral (a plane curve traced by a point circling about the center but at increasing distances from the center)

helix; spiral (a curve that lies on the surface of a cylinder or cone and cuts the element at a constant angle)

perversion (a curve that reverses the direction of something)

sinuosity; sinuousness (having curves)

arch (a curved shape in the vertical plane that spans an opening)

bell; bell shape; campana (the shape of a bell)

arc; bow (something curved in shape)

crescent (any shape resembling the curved shape of the moon in its first or last quarters)

quadric; quadric surface (a curve or surface whose equation (in Cartesian coordinates) is of the second degree)

lemniscate (any of several plane algebraic curves in the shape of a figure eight)

line roulette; roulette (a line generated by a point on one figure rolling around a second figure)

bell-shaped curve; Gaussian curve; Gaussian shape; normal curve (a symmetrical curve representing the normal distribution)

meander (a bend or curve, as in a stream or river)

closed curve (a curve (such as a circle) having no endpoints)

S-shape (a double curve resembling the letter S)

catenary (the curve theoretically assumed by a perfectly flexible and inextensible cord of uniform density and cross section hanging freely from two fixed points)

Cupid's bow (the double curve of the upper lip when considered to resemble Cupid's bow)

undulation; wave (an undulating curve)

extrados (the exterior curve of an arch)

gooseneck (something in a thin curved form (like the neck of a goose))

intrados (the interior curve of an arch)

bend; crook; turn; twist (a circular segment of a curve)

crotchet; hook (a sharp curve or crook; a shape resembling a hook)

envelope (a curve that is tangent to each of a family of curves)

Antonym:

straight line (a line traced by a point traveling in a constant direction; a line of zero curvature)

Derivation:

curve (turn sharply; change direction abruptly)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Form a curl, curve, or kink

Example:

the cigar smoke curled up at the ceiling

Synonyms:

curl; curve; kink

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "curve" is one way to...):

change surface (undergo or cause to undergo a change in the surface)

"Curve" entails doing...:

bend; deform; flex; turn; twist (cause (a plastic object) to assume a crooked or angular form)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

curve (curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Turn sharply; change direction abruptly

Example:

The motorbike veered to the right

Synonyms:

curve; cut; sheer; slew; slue; swerve; trend; veer

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "curve" is one way to...):

turn (change orientation or direction, also in the abstract sense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "curve"):

peel off (leave a formation)

yaw (swerve off course momentarily)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

curve (curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.))

curve (the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bend or cause to bend

Example:

the road curved sharply

Synonyms:

crook; curve

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "curve" is one way to...):

bend; flex (form a curve)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "curve"):

recurve (curve or bend (something) back or down)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

curvature ((medicine) a curving or bending; often abnormal)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Form an arch or curve

Example:

her hips curve nicely

Synonyms:

arc; arch; curve

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "curve" is one way to...):

bend; flex (form a curve)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "curve"):

camber (curve upward in the middle)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

curvature (the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface)

curvature ((medicine) a curving or bending; often abnormal)

curve (the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Extend in curves and turns

Example:

the path twisted through the forest

Synonyms:

curve; twist; wind

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "curve" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "curve"):

circumvolute (wind or turn in volutions, especially in an inward spiral, as of snail)

spiral (form a spiral)

snake (form a snake-like pattern)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

curve (curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.))

curve (the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Minutes times femtograms per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by grams (dose or weight).

(Minute Times Femtogram Per Milliliter Per Gram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Minutes times grams per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by kilograms per meter squared (body mass index).

(Minute Times Gram per Milliliter per Kilogram per Meter Squared, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Minutes times grams per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by meters squared (surface area).

(Minute Times Gram per Milliliter per Meter Squared, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Minutes times micrograms per milliliter (area under the curve).

(Minute Times Microgram per Milliliter, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Minutes times grams per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by kilograms (weight).

(Minute Times Gram Per Milliliter Per Kilogram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Minutes times grams per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by grams (dose or weight).

(Minute Times Gram Per Milliliter Per Gram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Minutes times femtograms per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by kilograms (weight).

(Minute Times Femtogram Per Milliliter Per Kilogram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Minutes times femtograms per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by meters squared (surface area).

(Minute Times Femtogram per Milliliter per Meter Squared, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Minutes times grams per milliliter (area under the curve).

(Minute Times Gram per Milliliter, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

The area under the curve (AUC) from the time of dosing to the time of the last observation divided by the dose, regardless of whether the last concentration is measurable or not.

(AUC All Normalized by Dose, NCI Thesaurus)