parallel

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈpærᵊ.ləl/ UK /ˈpæ.ɹəˌlɛl/ See IPA manual

Freq #8059

Meanings

1

adj
(of lines or surfaces) Always the same distance apart and never meeting.

The two railway tracks run parallel to each other.
2

noun
A similarity or comparison between two things.

There are clear parallels between the two writers' early lives.
3

verb
To be similar to or match something else.

His career closely parallels that of his father.
4

adj
(of computing) Doing several operations at the same time.

The supercomputer uses parallel processing to speed up the calculations.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Opposites

antiparallelperpendicular skew

Word family

Forms paralleledparallelingparallelledparallellingparallels

Derived forms autoparallelbiparallelfrontoparallelhyperparallelmultiparallelnonparallelparallelableparallelisationparalleliseparallelisticparallelityparallelization

Related forms parallaxsequential

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

parallel axiom
the Euclidean principle that exactly one parallel to a line passes through a point outside it

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Parallel, recorded in English from the mid-16th century, goes back to Greek parallēlos. That word combines para-, “alongside,” with allēlos, “one another.”

Etymology

From Middle French parallèle and its etymon Latin parallēlus, parallēlos. The verb is from the noun. By surface analysis, par- + all- + -el.

parallèle Middle French parallēlus,parallēlos Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# parallel

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj, noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈpærᵊ.ləl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpæ.ɹəˌlɛl/
**Frequency rank:** 8059

## Meanings
1. (of lines or surfaces) Always the same distance apart and never meeting.
2. A similarity or comparison between two things.
3. To be similar to or match something else.
4. (of computing) Doing several operations at the same time.

## Examples
- The two railway tracks run parallel to each other.
- There are clear parallels between the two writers' early lives.
- His career closely parallels that of his father.
- The supercomputer uses parallel processing to speed up the calculations.

## Antonyms
- antiparallel
- perpendicular
- skew

## Derived Forms
- autoparallel
- biparallel
- frontoparallel
- hyperparallel
- multiparallel
- nonparallel
- parallelable
- parallelisation
- parallelise
- parallelistic
- parallelity
- parallelization

## Related Forms
- parallax
- sequential

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: parallèle
- Root: parallēlus,parallēlos
- Affix: para- - beside

## Etymology
From Middle French parallèle and its etymon Latin parallēlus, parallēlos. The verb is from the noun. By surface analysis, par- + all- + -el.

## AI Etymology
Parallel comes from Middle French parallèle and its etymon Latin parallēlus, parallēlos. The verb is from the noun. By surface analysis, par- + all- + -el. The historical chain includes parallèle (Middle French) and parallēlus,parallēlos (Latin). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as autoparallel, biparallel, frontoparallel, and hyperparallel and related forms such as parallax and sequential. In present use it covers (of lines or surfaces) Always the same distance apart and never meeting, a similarity or comparison between two things, and to be similar to or match something else.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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