curvature
[kur-vuh-cher, -choo r]
- the act of curving or the state of being curved.
- a curved condition, often abnormal: curvature of the spine.
- the degree of curving of a line or surface.
- Geometry.
- (at a point on a curve) the derivative of the inclination of the tangent with respect to arc length.
- the absolute value of this derivative.
- something curved.
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Origin of curvature
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for curvature
Contemporary Examples
Even if you put it on a big building, the curvature of the earth prevents radar from going to the airplane.
He was described by Shakespeare as having a hunchback and indeed the skeleton shows evidence of curvature of the spine.
CONFIRMED: Skeleton Found Under City Car Park IS That Of Villainous Richard IIITom Sykes
February 4, 2013
Historical Examples
What curvature is to lines, gradation is to shades and colors.
Modern Painters Volume II (of V)John Ruskin
I might just as well have suspected the girl of a curvature of the spine.
FalkJoseph Conrad
Slight inequality of curvature in meridians of right cornea.
A Book of BurlesquesH. L. Mencken
The place had a curvature like that of the seats in a theatre.
Ten Books on ArchitectureVitruvius
Curvature of the spine is more common than is usually thought.
The Mother and Her ChildWilliam S. Sadler
curvature
- something curved or a curved part of a thing
- any normal or abnormal curving of a bodily partcurvature of the spine
- geometry the change in inclination of a tangent to a curve over unit length of arc. For a circle or sphere it is the reciprocal of the radiusSee also radius of curvature, centre of curvature
- the act of curving or the state or degree of being curved or bent
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for curvature
n.
1660s, from Latin curvatura "a bending," from curvatus, past participle of curvare "to bend" (see curve (v.)). In non-Euclidian geometry, from 1873.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
curvature
(kûr′və-chur′)- A curving or bending, especially an abnormal one.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.