parallelism

noun

par·​al·​lel·​ism ˈper-ə-ˌle-ˌli-zəm 

-lə-ˌli-,

ˈpa-rə-

1

: the quality or state of being parallel

the parallelism of architectural figures

2

: resemblance, correspondence

parallelism between obesity and hypertension

—H. M. Marvin

3

: repeated syntactical similarities introduced for rhetorical effect

biblical poetry relies largely on parallelism of lines

—E. P. Sanders

4

: a theory that mind and matter accompany one another but are not causally related

5

: the independent development of similar traits or features (as of body structure or behavior) in different species or lineages that have common ancestry and that typically occupy similar environments or ecological niches : parallel evolution

Synonyms

• alikeness
• community
• comparability
• correspondence
• likeness
• resemblance
• similarity
• similitude

Examples of parallelism in a Sentence

There is some degree of parallelism between the lives of the two women.

There is a certain parallelism in the development of the two technologies.

Recent Examples on the Web

As model sizes increase, memory systems must incorporate parallelism and scaling techniques to keep up with AI workload demands. —Steven Woo, Forbes.com, 13 June 2025

Pipeline parallelism assigns different neural network layers to different devices. —Jitender Jain, Forbes.com, 6 June 2025

This design allows higher block frequency and parallelism while maintaining consensus. —Tomer Niv, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025

The evolution across a century of which each family member considers to be home during their respective teen years is threaded by uncanny parallelisms that lead to the question: Can memories can be inherited, repeated, and ultimately, relived? —Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 13 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1610, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing parallelism

• psychophysical parallelism

Rhymes for parallelism

• activism
• ageism
• albinism
• altruism
• aneurism
• animism
• aphorism
• atomism
• barbarism
• bolshevism
• botulism
• brahmanism

Kids Definition

parallelism

noun

par·​al·​lel·​ism ˈpar-ə-ˌlel-ˌiz-əm 

: the quality or state of being parallel

especially : similarity of construction of word groups especially for effect or rhythm

Medical Definition

parallelism

noun

par·​al·​lel·​ism ˈpar-ə-ˌlel-ˌiz-əm, -ləl- 

: a philosophical or psychological doctrine that there is a one-to-one correspondence between events in the mind and events in the brain but that the two sets of events exist without interacting in a causal way

called also psychophysical parallelism