Etymology

Attested since the 1690s, from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#CURVE curvus (“bent, curved”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#CURVE *(s)ker- (“to bend, curve, turn”) + *-wós. Doublet of curb, shrink, carcer, and cancerCategory:English doublets#CURVE.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /kɜːv/, [ˈkʰɜːv]Category:English 1-syllable words#CURVECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CURVE

  • Audio (London):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#CURVE
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɚv/, [ˈkʰɚv]Category:English 1-syllable words#CURVECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CURVE

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#CURVE
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)vCategory:Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)v#CURVECategory:Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)v/1 syllable#CURVE

Adjective

curveCategory:English lemmas#CURVECategory:English adjectives#CURVECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE

1. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#CURVE) Bent without angles; crooked; curved. Category:en:Curves#CURVE

   a curve lineCategory:English terms with usage examples#CURVE

   a curve surfaceCategory:English terms with usage examples#CURVE

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

curve

Wikipedia

curve (plural curves)Category:English lemmas#CURVECategory:English nouns#CURVECategory:English countable nouns#CURVECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE

1. A gentle bend, such as in a road.

   You should slow down when approaching a curve.Category:English terms with usage examples#CURVE

   • 1877, John Joseph Henry, Account of Arnold's Campaign Against Quebec‎, J. Munsell, page 171:

     But when we reflect that across the road at the centre of the arc of each curve there was a barricade, and cannon placed to rake the' intervals between the different barricades, the difficulties of the ascent, which is very steep, would be increased even to insurmountability.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CURVE

   • 1993, Sharad Singh Negi, Kumaun: The Land and the People‎, page 106:

     In appearance, the bharal resembles both a sheep and a goat. Its horns are smooth, rounded and form a curve backwards over the neck. The fur is brownish grey in colour which attains a slaty grey hue in winter and becomes browner in summer. In Kumaun the bharal is found in the desolate tracts of northern Pithoragarh, usually on the slopes of the main Himalayan range where it lives between the timberline and the snowline.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CURVE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 2016 April 28, Tom Voelk, “Video Review: Hyundai Elantra Offers Fewer Curves, but a Better Ride”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 8 November 2020:

     AROUND six years ago, Hyundai figured a 10-year warranty was not enough to attract shoppers and conjured up daring design for more attention. Sonata was the first to get the Fluidic Sculpture makeover, but the fifth-generation Elantra ended up being the swoopiest of the fleet. Hyundai’s newest gamble? Toning down those curves. […] Laugh at that detail now — you won’t when the sun is blinding you at 75 miles an hour on a curve.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CURVE

2. A simple figure containing no straight portions and no angles; a curved line.

   She scribbled a curve on the paper.Category:English terms with usage examples#CURVE

   • 2001 April, Samuel R. Buss, Jay P Fillmore, “Spherical averages and applications to spherical splines and interpolation”, in ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), volume 20, number 2:

     However, it should be possible to give more sophisticated spherical spline curves based on the de Castaljau method that are computed using multiple slerps between pairs of points and which work well for arbitrary knot positions (indeed, knot insertion methods for spline curves should suffice for this, cf Farin [1993])

     Category:English terms with quotations#CURVE

3. A grading system based on the scale of performance of a group used to normalize a right-skewed grade distribution (with more lower scores) into a bell curve, so that more can receive higher grades, regardless of their actual knowledge of the subject.

   The teacher was nice and graded the test on a curve.Category:English terms with usage examples#CURVE

   1. (nonstandardCategory:English nonstandard terms#CURVE, by extension) A grading system where all raw scores are raised by a set amount of points.
4. (analytic geometryCategory:en:Geometry#CURVE) A continuous map from a one-dimensional space to a multidimensional space.
5. (geometryCategory:en:Geometry#CURVE) A one-dimensional figure of non-zero length; the graph of a continuous map from a one-dimensional space.
6. (algebraic geometryCategory:en:Algebraic geometry#CURVE) An algebraic curve; a polynomial relation of the planar coordinates.
7. (topologyCategory:en:Topology#CURVE) A one-dimensional continuum.
8. (informalCategory:English informal terms#CURVE, usually in the plural) The attractive shape of a woman's body.

Verb

curve (third-person singular simple present curves, present participle curving, simple past and past participle curved)Category:English lemmas#CURVECategory:English verbs#CURVECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CURVE) To bend; to crook.

   to curve a lineCategory:English terms with usage examples#CURVE

   to curve a pipeCategory:English terms with usage examples#CURVE

2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CURVE) To cause to swerve from a straight course.

   to curve a ball in pitching itCategory:English terms with usage examples#CURVE

3. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#CURVE) To bend or turn gradually from a given direction.

   the road curves to the rightCategory:English terms with usage examples#CURVE

   • 1866, The Missouri Yearbook of Agriculture: Annual Report, Missouri. State Board of Agriculture, page 31:

     […] the shoulders not too wide above, bowing outward from the top to the breast; the back flat from shoulder to tail; the ribs extending horizontally and backwards, and then curving down barrelwise; […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#CURVE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 1958 July, P. J. Norris, “The Bexhill West Branch”, in Railway Magazine, page 496:

     The double-track branch curves away southwards at the south end of the station and runs on a banked down gradient gradually losing sight of the main line.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CURVE

   • 1982, Sherrell J. Aston, Albert Hornblass, Murray A. Meltzer, et al., editors, Third International Symposium of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Eye and Adnexa, Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins Co., →ISBN, page 116:

     Even without mobilization of the bone, the median eyelid angle can be deplaced in the nasal direction. For this purpose, we inserted a heart-shaped cartilage implant, curved toward the caruncula.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CURVE

4. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CURVE) To grade on a curve (bell curve of a normal distribution).

   The teacher will curve the test.Category:English terms with usage examples#CURVE

5. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CURVE, slangCategory:English slang#CURVE) To reject, to turn down romantic advances.

   I was once curved three times by the same woman.Category:English terms with usage examples#CURVE

Anagrams

• cruve

Etymology

From EnglishCategory:Cantonese terms borrowed from English#CURVECategory:Cantonese terms derived from English#CURVE curve (“grading system”).

Pronunciation

• (Alternative pronunciation): IPA^(key): /kʰœːf⁵⁵/Category:Cantonese terms with IPA pronunciation#CURVE

Noun

curveCategory:Chinese lemmas#CURVECategory:Chinese nouns#CURVECategory:Chinese entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE (Hong Kong CantoneseCategory:Hong Kong Cantonese#CURVE)

1. curve (grading system) (Classifier: 條／条 c)Category:Chinese nouns classified by 條/条#CURVE
2. (by extension) standards (something used as a measure for comparison) (Classifier: 條／条 c)Category:Chinese nouns classified by 條/条#CURVE

Etymology

Borrowed from LatinCategory:Dutch terms borrowed from Latin#CURVECategory:Dutch terms derived from Latin#CURVE curvus (“bent, curved”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʏr.və/Category:Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation#CURVE

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:Dutch terms with audio pronunciation#CURVE
• Hyphenation: cur‧ve

Noun

curve f (plural curven or curves, diminutive curvetje n)Category:Dutch lemmas#CURVECategory:Dutch nouns#CURVECategory:Dutch nouns with plural in -en#CURVECategory:Dutch nouns with plural in -s#CURVECategory:Dutch entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Dutch feminine nouns#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE

1. curve: curved line

   Synonym: kromme

Verb

curveCategory:Galician non-lemma forms#CURVECategory:Galician verb forms#CURVECategory:Galician entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE

1. inflection of curvar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Adjective

curveCategory:Italian non-lemma forms#CURVECategory:Italian adjective forms#CURVECategory:Italian entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE

1. feminine plural of curvo

Noun

curve fCategory:Italian non-lemma forms#CURVECategory:Italian noun forms#CURVECategory:Italian entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE

1. plural of curva

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkʊr.wɛ]Category:Latin 2-syllable words#CURVECategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#CURVE
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkur.ve]Category:Latin 2-syllable words#CURVECategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#CURVE

Adjective

curveCategory:Latin non-lemma forms#CURVECategory:Latin adjective forms#CURVECategory:Latin entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE

1. vocative masculine singular of curvus

Verb

curveCategory:Portuguese non-lemma forms#CURVECategory:Portuguese verb forms#CURVECategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE

1. inflection of curvar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkurve]Category:Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation#CURVE

Noun

curve fCategory:Romanian non-lemma forms#CURVECategory:Romanian noun forms#CURVECategory:Romanian entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE

1. plural of curvă

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuɾbe/ [ˈkuɾ.β̞e]Category:Spanish 2-syllable words#CURVECategory:Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation#CURVE
• Rhymes: -uɾbeCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/uɾbe#CURVECategory:Rhymes:Spanish/uɾbe/2 syllables#CURVE
• Syllabification: cur‧ve

Verb

curveCategory:Spanish non-lemma forms#CURVECategory:Spanish verb forms#CURVECategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#CURVECategory:Pages with entries#CURVECategory:Pages with 9 entries#CURVE

1. inflection of curvar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative