parabola

noun

pa·​rab·​o·​la pə-ˈra-bə-lə 

1

: a plane curve generated by a point moving so that its distance from a fixed point is equal to its distance from a fixed line : the intersection of a right circular cone with a plane parallel to an element of the cone

2

: something bowl-shaped (such as an antenna or microphone reflector)

Illustration of parabola

• F fixed point; CD fixed line; x moving point; AB axis; xy distance from x to CD; pp′ parabola

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

That optimism took the form of Mountcastle gazing upward, following the soaring parabola of a ball headed over the left field fence at Oriole Park before beginning the first of two home run trots Saturday night. Andy Kostka, Baltimore Sun, 3 Sep. 2022

Walter Abish, a widely admired if not widely read American author of experimental fiction whose early life drew a parabola of hasty escapes from hostile forces in Nazi-era Austria and revolutionary China, died on Saturday in Manhattan. New York Times, 31 May 2022

This was known as the Kuznets curve, a parabola that showed inequality soaring before being slowly brought back to Earth through redistribution. New York Times, 7 Apr. 2022

This would make the y-position vs. time graph a parabola instead of a straight line. Rhett Allain, Wired, 26 Nov. 2021

The temperature therefore looks like a three-dimensional parabola, a shape called a paraboloid. Quanta Magazine, 6 Oct. 2021

The jump arc follows a path similar to a parabola, which is a symmetrical curve that looks like an upside-down U. Allison Goldstein, Popular Mechanics, 4 Feb. 2022

But what happened on his first parabola was unexpected. Washington Post, 28 Oct. 2021

For the first parabola, Nosacek and the others experienced Martian gravity — about one-third that of Earth. Chelsey Lewis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 16 July 2021

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Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, borrowed from Greek parabolḗ "juxtaposition, placement of a figure in contact with another, parabola" — more at parable

First Known Use

1575, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

parabola

noun

pa·​rab·​o·​la pə-ˈrab-ə-lə 

1

: a curve formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to a straight line in its surface : a curve formed by a point moving so that its distance from a fixed point is equal to its distance from a fixed line

2

: something that is bowl-shaped

parabolic

ˌpar-ə-ˈbäl-ik

adjective