curvature

[kur-vuh-cher, -choo r]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR curvature ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

Origin of curvature

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin curvātūra, equivalent to curvāt(us) past participle of curvāre to bend, curve + -ūra -ure. See -ate¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for curvature

curve, shape, arc, bend, bow, arch, round, incurvation, deflection, flexure, curving, arching

Examples from the Web for curvature

Contemporary Examples of curvature

Even if you put it on a big building, the curvature of the earth prevents radar from going to the airplane.
Flight 370 And Our Unsolved Mystery Obsession
Emily Shire
March 13, 2014
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 III
Tom Sykes
February 4, 2013

Historical Examples of curvature

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.
Falk
Joseph Conrad
Slight inequality of curvature in meridians of right cornea.
A Book of Burlesques
H. L. Mencken
The place had a curvature like that of the seats in a theatre.
Ten Books on Architecture
Vitruvius
Curvature of the spine is more common than is usually thought.
The Mother and Her Child
William S. Sadler

British Dictionary definitions for curvature

curvature

noun

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

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

1660s, from Latin curvatura "a bending," from curvatus, past participle of curvare "to bend" (see curve (v.)). In non-Euclidian geometry, from 1873.

curvature in Medicine

curvature

[kûr′və-chur′]

n.

A curving or bending, especially an abnormal one.