curving

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of curve.

   The path is curving sharply near the edge of the cliff.

   Curving gracefully overhead, the staircase rose to the upper floor.

   Note

   The -ing form drops the final e of curve and does double duty: a progressive participle (the road is curving left) and a gerund (curving the wire takes patience). Like the verb, it can bend something else or bend itself, so it may take an object or not. The same spelling also serves as the noun for a bend and the adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   Bending in a smooth, continuous line rather than running straight.

   The architect favored curving walls over sharp corners.

   A wide, curving driveway swept up to the front of the house.

   Similarwinding, sweeping, rounded, arched

   Oppositestraight

   Note

   As an adjective it can be graded, and it compares with more and most rather than with endings: a more curving path, the most curving stretch of the coast. It sits comfortably before its noun, as in a curving path or a curving wall.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   A bend in shape, or a turning motion that follows a rounded line.

   The graceful curving of the bay gave the town much of its charm.

   Engineers measured the curving of the rail before fitting the next section.

   Similarcurvature, sweep, bend

   Note

   As a noun it can be counted. The plural curvings names the successive bends of one line, as in the curvings of a mountain road, where each turn is a separate curving. Because it covers motion as well as shape, it suits descriptions that follow a line along its course rather than take it in at a glance.

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