parallels

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of parallel.

   The two scholars noted striking parallels in the authors' early letters.

   Cartographers spaced the parallels at five-degree intervals across the chart.

   Note

   One plural serves two quite different jobs: the lines of latitude ruled across a map, and the likenesses traced between two things, events or lives. Context usually decides which is meant. Cartographers space parallels; critics and historians draw them. Watch the spelling, too, because the same word is a verb in "the road parallels the river". Settle its grammar before its meaning.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of parallel.

   The novel's plot parallels events from the author's own youth.

   A service track parallels the main line through the mountain pass.

   Note

   Unlike the plural noun, this form takes its object directly, with no preposition: a track parallels the main line, a plot parallels real events. Its range runs from the literal, a path lying alongside another, to the figurative, one process matching or corresponding to another. The verb can also mean actively comparing or likening one thing to something else.

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