Adjacent Words

Parabola definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PARAB'OLA, n. [L. See Parable.] A conic section arising from cutting a cone by a plane parallel to one of its sides, or parallel to a plane that touches one of its sides.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the curve

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: New Latin, from Greek parabol?, literally, comparison Date: 1579 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 (as an antenna or microphone reflector)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. an open plane curve formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to its side, resembling the path of a projectile under the action of gravity. Etymology: mod.L f. Gk parabole placing side by side, comparison (as PARA-(1), bole a throw f. ballo)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Parabola Pa*rab"o*la, n.; pl. Parabolas. [NL., fr. Gr. ?; -- so called because its axis is parallel to the side of the cone. See Parable, and cf. Parabole.] (Geom.) (a) A kind of curve; one of the conic sections formed by the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane parallel to one of its sides. It is a curve, any point of which is equally distant from a fixed point, called the focus, and a fixed straight line, called the directrix. See Focus. (b) One of a group of curves defined by the equation y = ax^n where n is a positive whole number or a positive fraction. For the cubical parabola n = 3; for the semicubical parabola n = 3/2. See under Cubical, and Semicubical. The parabolas have infinite branches, but no rectilineal asymptotes.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(parabolas) A parabola is a type of curve such as the path of something that is thrown up into the air and comes down in a different place. (TECHNICAL) = arc N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

arc, bow, catacaustic, catenary, caustic, circle, conchoid, crook, curl, curve, diacaustic, ellipse, festoon, hook, hyperbola, lituus, sinus, tracery