to curve
- verb
- /kɜrv/
- Its wingtips curve up at the ends, so from below they look cut off.
- curve inward
- curve upward
- curve back
So things like stars or planets curve the space-time around them.
- So things like stars or planets curve the space-time around them.
- So where do they curve space-time if they're in two places?
- If there are no masses nearby to curve space-time, it's flat.
- Matter influences how the space-time curves, but it doesn't determine it.
- Things in space will make the geometry curve down and make a bend.
- So you want to have magnets that curve the protons around the ring.
Examples
-
When he smiles, the right side of his mouth curves up more than the left.
Fiction book (1997) -
The beat of the drum leads me across gentle slopes as the road curves around lakes.
Academic text (1998) -
So I do want to curve it a little bit.
-
There are ways to curve the time you spend with your family.
-
Just past the bridge, it rises and curves up a small hill.
Academic text (2010) -
It curves a little to the left.
-
Today, we hiked a ridge that curves out of sight of Charlie's slope.
Fiction book (1999) -
There's a place in Riverside Park at 91st Street... ...where the path curves and there's a garden.
-
When she looked down, the stairwell appeared to curve tighter and tighter like the inside of a conch shell.
Fiction book (2001) -
The road will curve sharply as you approach the intersection.
Synonyms
To turn something so it becomes a curved or spiral shape
To move along a curving path with many turns
To bend into a curved shape
To curve under pressure, like a branch or metal
To move in a smooth curved path, like lightning across the sky
To make a sharp edge or corner smooth and curved
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
To surprise or confuse someone by doing something they did not expect
Compounds
- Specialized
A curved line on a graph showing most results near the average and fewer at the ends
- Specialized
A graph showing how tax rates change the money the government gets, rising then falling when taxes get too high
- Specialized
A curve shaped like a bell that shows most values near the average
- Specialized
A graph that shows how one device property changes as another thing changes, like voltage or temperature
- Specialized
A graph showing how a computer model gets better with more training data
- Specialized
A curve with no endpoints that comes back to its starting point, like a circle
- Specialized
A graph showing the cotangent function, repeating every pi and with vertical lines it never reaches
- Specialized
A graph that shows how loud a speaker or amplifier is at different frequencies
- Specialized
A bell-shaped curve the same on both sides that shows how values are near the average
- Specialized
A line on a graph showing combinations of goods a buyer likes the same
- Specialized
A closed loop on a flat surface, like a circle, that does not cross itself
- Specialized
A bell-shaped line that shows most numbers near the middle and fewer far from it
- Specialized
A smooth line or curve fitted to data points to show how two things are related
- Specialized
A curve formed by points where perpendiculars from a fixed point meet a curve's tangents
- Specialized
A curved line on a flat surface that makes a closed loop without crossing itself, like a circle
How Curved
Surface Forms
Etymology
Curve comes from an old Latin root curvus meaning 'bent', and you can see the same root in the English word curvy. So to curve something is to bend it or make it move in a smooth, rounded path.