parabolic
1 Americanadjective
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having the form or outline of a parabola.
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having a longitudinal section in the form of a paraboloid or parabola.
a parabolic reflector.
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of or relating to a parabola.
adjective
adjective
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of, relating to, or shaped like a parabola
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shaped like a paraboloid
a parabolic mirror
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of parabolic1
First recorded in 1695–1705; parabol(a) + -ic
Origin of parabolic2
1650–60; < Late Latin parabolicus metaphoric < Late Greek parabolikós figurative, equivalent to Greek parabol ( ḗ ) parable + -ikos -ic
Explanation
Something that's parabolic symbolizes something or teaches a simple lesson. Many fables and Bible stories are parabolic. If your grandfather's stories always end with him saying, "And the moral of this story is..." then you can describe them as parabolic. They are parables, in other words, tales that try to teach a moral or religious lesson. Another way to use the adjective parabolic is to mean "like a parabola," or a mathematical curve on a graph. The Greek root of parabolic is parabolikos, "figurative," from parabole, "comparison or parable," or literally "a throwing beside."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The fact that they’ve moved up together “marks a period of extremely aggressive buying, culminating in a parabolic uptrend,” Adam Turnquist, chief market strategist at LPL Financial, told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Sandisk and Micron—key members of a small group of memory stocks whose parabolic gains have lifted shares near records—both fell more than 13%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Interlune has tested some of its equipment during parabolic flights, in which a plane flies in a big arc to simulate zero gravity.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
From the Eighth Avenue entrance, passengers will descend sweeping staircases into a parabolic main hall whose soft curve contrasts with the structure’s overall solidity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
Nevertheless, his idealized parabolic trajectory in a vacuum was an essential precondition for the much more sophisticated analysis by Robins and Euler of actual trajectories.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
