curve

[kurv]

noun

1. a continuously bending line, without angles.

2. the act or extent of curving.

3. any curved outline, form, thing, or part.

4. a curved section of a road, path, hallway, etc.

5. Railroads.,  a curved section of track: in the U.S. the curve is often expressed as the central angle, measured in degrees, of a curved section of track subtended by a chord 100 feet (30 meters) long degree of curve.

6. Baseball.

   1. curveball.

   2. the path followed by a ball pitched as a curveball.

      The curve on that ball was nasty!

7. a graphic representation of the variations effected in something by the influence of changing conditions; graph.

8. Mathematics.,  a collection of points whose coordinates are continuous functions of a single independent variable.

9. a misleading or deceptive trick; cheat; deception.

10. Education.,  a grading system based on the scale of performance, so that those performing better relative to others in the group, regardless of their actual knowledge of the subject, receive high grades.

    The new English professor grades on a curve.

11. a curved guide used in drafting.

verb (used with object)

curved, curving 

1. to bend in a curve; cause to take the course of a curve.

2. to grade on a curve.

verb (used without object)

curved, curving 

1. to bend in a curve; take the course of a curve.

2. Baseball.,  to pitch a curveball.

   After two forkballs, Stewart curved to Hernandez for a called strike.

adjective

1. having the shape of a curve; curved.

curve

/ ˈkɜːvɪdlɪ, kɜːv /

noun

1. a continuously bending line that has no straight parts

2. something that curves or is curved, such as a bend in a road or the contour of a woman's body

3. the act or extent of curving; curvature

4. maths

   1. a system of points whose coordinates satisfy a given equation; a locus of points

   2. the graph of a function with one independent variable

5. a line representing data, esp statistical data, on a graph

   an unemployment curve

6. ahead of the times; ahead of schedule

7. behind the times; behind schedule

8. short for French curve

verb

1. to take or cause to take the shape or path of a curve; bend

curve

1. A line or surface that bends in a smooth, continuous way without sharp angles.

2. The graph of a function on a coordinate plane. In this technical sense, straight lines, circles, and waves are all curves.

Other Word Forms

• curvedness noun
• curvy adjective
• curvedly adverb
• curveless adjective
• uncurved adjective
• uncurving adjective
• undercurve verb (used without object)
• well-curved adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of curve¹

First recorded in 1565–75; from Middle French or directly from Latin curvus “crooked, bent, curved”

Word History and Origins

Origin of curve¹

C15: from Latin curvāre to bend, from curvus crooked

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. throw (someone) a curve,

   1. to take (someone) by surprise, especially in a negative way.

   2. to mislead or deceive.

2. flatten the curve. flatten the curve.

3. ahead of / behind the curve, at the forefront of (or lagging behind) recent developments, trends, etc.

see throw a curve.

Example Sentences

Absent accurate inflation data and labor statistics, members on the Federal Open Market Committee will be hand-tied on setting rates and constantly behind the curve when it comes to decision-making.

Read more on Barron's

“Walmart is clearly ahead of the curve here, while others have been slow to adapt or even made efforts to block AI web crawlers,” he wrote.

Read more on Barron's

Given political uncertainty is expected to stay high, the bias of JGB yield curve steepening and yen weakening could persist, the members add.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

As those companies climb the AI learning curve, new efficiencies could stack up.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

I am all for investing ahead of the curve, but that makes sense where there are moats, network effects, and switching costs.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• bend 
• buckle 
• bulge 
• coil 
• crumple 
• curl 
• loop 
• skew 
• spiral 
• swerve 
• twist 
• veer