parallelism

American  

[par-uh-le-liz-uhm, -luh-liz-] / ˈpær ə lɛˌlɪz əm, -ləˌlɪz- /

noun

1. the position or relation of parallels.

2. agreement in direction, tendency, or character; the state or condition of being parallel.

3. a parallel or comparison.

4. Metaphysics. the doctrine that mental and bodily processes are concomitant, each varying with variation of the other, but that there is no causal relation of interaction between the two.

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parallelism British  

/ ˈpærəlɛˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. the state of being parallel

2. grammar the repetition of a syntactic construction in successive sentences for rhetorical effect

3. philosophy the dualistic doctrine that mental and physical processes are regularly correlated but are not causally connected, so that, for example, pain always accompanies, but is not caused by, a pin-prick Compare interactionism occasionalism

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Other Word Forms

• nonparallelism noun
• parallelist noun

Etymology

Origin of parallelism

First recorded in 1600–10; parallel + -ism

Explanation

You find parallelism between two things that are alike, like parallel lines. If your path in life is to save the world from an evil wizard, you can remark on the parallelism between your life and Harry Potter's. In English grammar, parallelism is used in sentence construction to give matching structure. In the sentence, "I like to read, dancing, and fighting off Zombie attacks," the parts of the list are not parallel. You can revise the sentence for parallelism: "I like to read, to dance, and to fight off Zombie attacks." Of course, if Zombies are attacking, they probably don't care if the sentence parts are parallel or not.

Example Sentences

With ultimate parallelism at its core, this technology could dramatically expand the capabilities of AI systems, enabling them to handle complex tasks with lightning speed and exceptional accuracy, Bae said.

From Science Daily • Nov. 30, 2023

This "higher-dimensional" processing is enabled by exploiting multiple different radio frequencies to encode the data, propelling parallelism to a level far beyond that previously achieved.

From Science Daily • Oct. 19, 2023

“There is no hard and fast rule on number of reiterations needed to produce retention. Concise, vividly phrased messages that employ parallelism and alliteration are more readily remembered.”

From Seattle Times • Aug. 3, 2023

There’s a satisfying parallelism to the dynamics between the two pairs — the chemistry, the witty repartee, the heartbreak one character offers, intentionally or unintentionally, to another.

From New York Times • Oct. 3, 2022

Figures of antithesis or parallelism may serve to frame or advance an argument; apoplanesis* to avoid one.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith