Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or similar to a parable.
  • adjective Of or having the form of a parabola or paraboloid.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having the form or outline of a. parabola; of, pertaining to, or resembling a parabola.
  • Having only one point at infinity, or otherwise determined in character by the coalescence of two quantities.
  • y = a + bx + cx + dx + ex + etc.
  • A space in which the sum of the three angles of every triangle is equal to two right angles: so called because the two points at infinity on every straight line in such space coincide; also, every point in every plane in such a space is a point of no curvature, and is therefore a parabolic point.
  • Of or pertaining to a parable; of the nature of a parable.
  • Of or pertaining to parabole; of the nature of parabole.
  • A parabola so approaching a curve that their distance apart becomes and remains less than any given distance, though never zero.
  • noun A parabola or paraboloid.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of the nature of a parable; expressed by a parable or figure; allegorical.
  • adjective Having the form or nature of a parabola; pertaining to, or resembling, a parabola.
  • adjective Having a form like that generated by the revolution of a parabola, or by a line that moves on a parabola as a directing curve.
  • adjective a paraboloid; a conoid whose directing curve is a parabola. See Conoid.
  • adjective (Opt.) a mirror having a paraboloidal surface which gives for parallel rays (as those from very distant objects) images free from aberration. It is used in reflecting telescopes.
  • adjective the solid generated by revolving the portion of a parabola cut off by a line drawn at right angles to the axis of the curve, about that line as an axis.
  • adjective a spiral curve conceived to be formed by the periphery of a semiparabola when its axis is wrapped about a circle; also, any other spiral curve having an analogy to the parabola.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, or pertaining to, or in the shape of a parabola or paraboloid
  • adjective Of or pertaining to a parable
  • noun mathematics A parabolic function, equation etc

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having the form of a parabola
  • adjective resembling or expressed by parables

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Ultimately from Greek parabolē, comparison; see parable. Sense 2, from parabola.]

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Examples

  • British space tourist and adventurer Richard Garriott, the son of an astronaut, will officiate at the ceremony during the 90-minute flight, which includes 15 rollercoaster-type dives, known as parabolic arcs, which last up to 30 seconds.

    A Zero Gravity Wedding For Two Space Fanatics | Impact Lab 2009

  • British space tourist and adventurer Richard Garriott, the son of an astronaut, will officiate at the ceremony during the 90-minute flight, which includes 15 rollercoaster-type dives, known as parabolic arcs, which last up to 30 seconds.

    A Zero Gravity Wedding For Two Space Fanatics | Impact Lab 2009

  • I have heard of a wonderful mirror known to science, which is called the parabolic mirror.

    The God of All Comfort 1905

  • That is called a parabolic vertical mania- and it subsequently collapsed into panic selling.

    Forbes.com: News Robert Lenzner 2011

  • Workers assemble a pilot solar collector known as a parabolic trough during testing for the proposed solar power plant near Blythe, Calif.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2010

  • This steepness would be described as a parabolic move on the chart by stock traders.

    TradingMarkets 2010

  • This steepness would be described as a parabolic move on the chart by stock traders.

    TradingMarkets 2010

  • Workers assemble a pilot solar collector known as a parabolic trough during testing for the proposed solar power plant near Blythe, Calif.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2010

  • All three power plants use curved mirrors called parabolic troughs to reflect and concentrate the sunlight to heat up liquid inside tubes for harvesting steam.

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2009

  • Andasol 1 is a solar-thermal power station and what is known as a parabolic trough power station.

    Energy News - Energy Technology - Energy Business - Energy and the Environment 2009

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  • But whatever the source of this legend, and irrespective of whether it is of Jewish or Christian origin, the fact remains that it is used in the Qur'an in a purely parabolic sense: namely, as an illustration of God's power to bring about death (or "sleep") and resurrection (or "awakening'); and, secondly, as an allegory of the piety that induces men to abandon a wicked or frivolous world in order to keep their faith unsullied, and of God's recognition of that faith by His bestowal of a spiritual awakening which transcends time and death

    The message of the quran by muhammad asad, al kahfi

    January 31, 2018