curve

American  

[kurv] / kɜrv /

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.

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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.

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. see flatten the curve.

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

curve British  

/ 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

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verb

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

curve Scientific  

/ kûrv /

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.

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curve More Idioms  

1. see throw a curve.

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Other Word Forms

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

Etymology

Origin of curve

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

Explanation

A curve is an arched or bent shape, like the curve of a smiling mouth or the curve of a road that twists and turns as you drive along the coast. As a noun, a curve can be any shape that deviates from being perfectly straight. You can trace a curve on a graph, throw an arcing pitch in baseball called a curve ball, or just admire the curves of the rolling hills in the distance. And as a verb, curve means to make or form this non-straight shape: "When she's happy, my dog's tail curves up over her back."

Example Sentences

Regardless of the war, “the company entered 2026 behind its targeted booking curve, and these headwinds have hindered the company’s ability to accelerate bookings and close that gap,” Norwegian said.

From Barron's • May 4, 2026

That’s precisely why I never wanted a sequel, and why I ask that you trust me here, even though I’ve admitted to you that I’m grading on a curve.

From Salon • May 1, 2026

The term structures are sloping upwards, particularly in the front end of the curve.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 30, 2026

Last season was a learning curve for Antonelli, who finished a solid seventh in the standings as a rookie.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 27, 2026

There are also what look like tusks that stretch and curve out from each end.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

Related Words

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