curve

Meaning

Noun

1. A gentle bend, such as in a road.
2. A simple figure containing no straight portions and no angles; a curved line.
3. 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.
4. (analytic) A continuous map from a one-dimensional space to a multidimensional space.
5. A one-dimensional figure of non-zero length; the graph of a continuous map from a one-dimensional space.
6. An algebraic curve; a polynomial relation of the planar coordinates.
7. A one-dimensional continuum.
8. (informal, plural-normally) The attractive shape of a woman's body.

Adj

Bent without angles; crooked; curved.

Verb

1. (transitive) To bend; to crook.
2. (transitive) To cause to swerve from a straight course.
3. (intransitive) To bend or turn gradually from a given direction.
4. (transitive) To grade on a curve (bell curve of a normal distribution).
5. (transitive) (slang) To reject, to turn down romantic advances.

Synonyms

bend

crook

turn

twist

arch

arc

warp

curl

curvature

wind

bow

🙇

crookedness

corner

winding

curved

fold

meander

curved line

turning

flex

kink

circle

⭕

hunch

contort

make crooked

bend down

be curved

huddle

trend

convexity

blunt

stoop

flexure

elbow

spin

swerve

veer

sag

loop

➿

sheer

incurve

inflect

bent

double

coil

hump

cut

slew

camber

gibbousness

Translations

courbe

curva

Kurve

curva

curva

curve

courber

καμπύλη

kromme

Krümmung

krümmen

biegen

corba

Bogen

🙇

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɜːv/

Etymology

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.