curved

1. 1
   adjective

   Having one or more curves; bending in a smooth arc rather than running straight.

   The bridge crosses the river in a gently curved arc.

   Surgeons often prefer a curved needle when stitching in tight spaces.

   Similarbent, arched, rounded, bowed

   Oppositestraight

   Note

   Unlike the verb form, this adjective takes degrees: one road is more curved than another, and the most curved stretch is the slowest. That is the quickest test when the two meet in a sentence. A curved blade describes a shape, while a blade curved by the smith reports an action. James E. Doyle's Official Baronage of England (1886) uses it in heraldic description: a cap "curved forward gules."

2. 2
   verb

   Past tense and past participle of curve.

   The pitcher's fastball curved sharply away from the batter at the last moment.

   The steel rod was curved into a hoop by the blacksmith.

   Note

   Curve works both with and without an object, so its past form serves two constructions. In "the road curved left" nothing is bent by anyone. In "the rod was curved into a hoop" someone does the bending. The same form also carries the classroom sense, an exam curved so that grades fit a bell curve. In slang, someone who curved an admirer turned their advances down.

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