curve
A bend, such as in a road.
Noun 4 meanings
A bend, such as in a road.
“You should slow down when approaching a curve.”
A simple figure containing no straight portions and no angles; a curved line.
“She scribbled a curve on the paper.”
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.”
A continuous map from a one-dimensional space to a multidimensional space.
Verb 4 meanings
To bend; to crook.
“to curve a line”
To cause to swerve from a straight course.
“to curve a ball in pitching it”
To bend or turn gradually from a given direction.
“the road curves to the right”
To grade on a curve (bell curve of a normal distribution).
“The teacher will curve the test.”
Etymology
Attested since the 1690s, from Latin curvus (“bent, curved”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, curve, turn”) + *-wós. Doublet of curb, shrink, carcer, and cancer.
CURVE at a glance
CURVE has 5 letters and scores 10 points in Scrabble (C 3 + U 1 + R 1 + V 4 + E 1) and 13 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #5,574 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with curve
All rhymesOne letter away
- CURSE7
- CARVE10
- CURVY13
- CURIE7
- LURVE8
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