parallel

Pluralparallels

Formsparallels, paralleling, paralleled

1. 1
   adjective

   Of lines or surfaces, always the same distance apart along their whole length, so that they never meet.

   The two shelves run parallel, staying exactly the same distance apart along their whole length.

   Engineers confirmed the beams were perfectly parallel before bolting them down.

   Similarequidistant, aligned

   Oppositeperpendicular, converging

   Note

   The geometric core of the word, which came into English from Middle French parallèle and Latin parallēlus. Chemists use it for strands lying side by side, and they contrast parallel duplexes with antiparallel ones, where two molecules line up in the same or opposite directions. In careful use the adjective resists degrees: lines either keep their distance everywhere or they do not.

2. 2
   adjective

   Running in the same overall direction as something else, typically expressed with the word "to".

   The new highway runs parallel to the old coastal road.

   Hold the ruler parallel to the bottom edge of the paper.

   Similaraligned

   Oppositeperpendicular

   Note

   Here the claim is looser: the same overall direction, not a measured constant gap, which is why railway lines and a row of valleys qualify. The usual partner today is to (parallel to the coast). Addison and Steele in 1711 write that honor 'runs parallel with the laws of God', and that older with still appears, especially in figurative comparisons.

3. 3
   adjectivefiguratively

   Analogous, similar, or comparable to something else in essential respects.

   The two novels explore parallel themes of loss and renewal.

   Their careers followed remarkably parallel courses.

   Similarsimilar, analogous, comparable, corresponding, matching

   Oppositedifferent, divergent, dissimilar, contrasting

4. 4
   nouncountable

   Something that is identical or similar to another thing in essential respects.

   Historians have noted a striking parallel between the two revolutions.

   This crisis has no real parallel in the country's recent past.

   Similarequivalent, similarity, counterpart, analogue, precedent

   Oppositecontrast, difference

   Note

   This noun of likeness has two favorite settings. In argument, people draw parallels between things, such as environmental destruction and crimes against people. In praise, a negative does the work: something with no parallel is unmatched. Pope turns that idea into a compliment with 'None but thyself can be thy parallel.'

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   Of a path or line, to run alongside something else while keeping the same distance from it.

   The new trail parallels the coastline for several miles.

   Two fresh fences parallel the old boundary line.

   Similarfollow, track, shadow, skirt, hug

   Oppositecross, intersect

   Note

   Unlike the adverb, this verb takes its object directly, with no to: a track paralleling the river, or we parallel the M5. That compactness suits route description. H. P. Lovecraft uses it for a railway in The Whisperer in Darkness (1931), and Paul Bigland uses it for a train racing a motorway in Rail (2020).

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   Of a process or development, to correspond to or closely resemble something else.

   Her rise to fame parallels his own early success.

   The events in the second half parallel those in the first.

   Similarmirror, echo, resemble, match, reflect

7. 7
   adjective

   Involving the processing of multiple tasks simultaneously rather than one at a time.

   The simulation runs on a parallel architecture spread across hundreds of cores.

   Parallel processing lets the system handle several data streams at once.

   Similarconcurrent, simultaneous

   Oppositeserial, sequential

   Note

   A computing term for work that is divided up and carried out at once, heard in parallel algorithm, parallel processing and parallel architecture. Its opposites are serial and sequential, which describe doing one step after another. The image comes from lines running side by side: separate streams of work move forward together without waiting on one another.

8. 8
   adjective

   Existing alongside ordinary reality but normally separate from it and not interacting with it.

   The hero slips into a parallel dimension where history unfolded differently.

   Many science fiction stories imagine parallel worlds branching from a single decision.

   Similaralternate, alternative

   Note

   Science fiction's sense, nearly always attached to a short list of nouns: parallel universe, parallel world, parallel dimension, parallel timeline. These worlds are pictured as running alongside ours, which is why the geometric word suits them. The real point, though, is separation. What happens in one does not ordinarily reach the other, so any crossing over becomes the story.

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A line of latitude; an imaginary circle around the Earth marking distance north or south of the equator.

   The treaty set the boundary along the 38th parallel.

   Each parallel marks a fixed distance from the equator.

   Similarlatitude

   Note

   Geography's parallels are counted rather than named. They come with the definite article and an ordinal number: the 31st parallel, the 38th parallel. Circles of latitude earn the word because they stay a constant distance apart all the way around, which is the strict geometric sense laid across a globe.

10. 10
    nouncountable or uncountable

    An arrangement of electrical components in which current divides and flows along two or more separate paths.

    Connecting the resistors in parallel reduces the total resistance.

    Each branch of the parallel carries a share of the total current.

    Oppositeseries

    Note

    Electricians use this noun almost entirely in the phrase in parallel, as in components wired in parallel. Every branch connects across the same two points, so each one sees the same voltage, and the currents through the branches add up to the total supplied. That is why adding resistors this way lowers the overall resistance.

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