parabolic
adjective
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The two distinct meanings of parabolic trace back to the development of Late Latin and New Latin. Late Latin is the Latin language used by writers in the third to sixth centuries. In that language, the word for "parable" was parabola—hence, the "parable" sense of parabolic. New Latin refers to the Latin used since the end of the medieval period, especially in regard to scientific description and classification. In New Latin, parabola names the same geometrical curve as it does in English. Both meanings of parabola were drawn from the Greek word for "comparison": parabolē.
Examples of parabolic in a Sentence
Taylor Nicioli, CNN, 8 Mar. 2024
In recent weeks, its stock price seems to have reached a parabolic state.
—Joel Shulman, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024
The parabolic profiling construction blends together five different radii to create a central parabolic arc, so the board responds to different types of riding and rider ability.
—Nathan Borchelt, Travel + Leisure, 21 Dec. 2023
Similar to how swirling a bottle of water pushes liquid up the sides, this motion forces the glass, oozing into the mold, into the parabolic shape needed for the telescope.
—Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 29 Nov. 2023
Each flight would include roughly four minutes of microgravity, or 12 times the 20 seconds of availability per cycle on a typical parabolic flight.
—Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 21 July 2023
There were six parabolic mics, contraptions resembling satellite dishes that operators strap on like sandwich boards and schlep around the sidelines to soak up sounds.
—Jody Rosen, New York Times, 2 Dec. 2023
Just as parabolic skis turned intermediates into experts on the slopes, AI will amplify the genius that resides within all of us.
—John Tamny, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023
It is possibly bound for the Oort cloud not to return for millions of years or, more likely, will follow a parabolic arc and entirely leave our Solar System.
—Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 26 Oct. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'parabolic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Parabolic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parabolic. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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