• enPR: păr'ə-lĕl", IPA: /ˈpæɹəˌlɛl/
• (Mary-marry-merry) enPR: per'ə-lĕl", IPA: /ˈpɛɹəˌlɛl/

parallel (not comparable)

1. Equally distant from one another at all points.

   The horizontal lines on my notebook paper are parallel.

   • 1911, William Robert Martin, ''''

     the instrument held with its plane roughly parallel to the equinoctial or celestial equato

2. Having the same overall direction; the comparison is indicated with "to".

   The two railway lines are parallel.

   • When honour runs parallel with the laws of God and our country, it cannot be too much cherished.

3. (hyperbolic geometry, said of a pair of lines) Either not intersecting, or coinciding.
4. (computing) Involving the processing of multiple tasks at the same time.

   a parallel algorithm

• (geometry) perpendicular, skew
• serial

• French: parallèle
• German: parallel
• Italian: parallelo
• Portuguese: paralelo
• Russian: паралле́льный
• Spanish: paralelo

• French: parallèle à
• German: parallel zu
• Portuguese: paralelo
• Russian: паралле́льный

• Portuguese: paralelo
• Russian: паралле́льный

parallel

1. With a parallel relationship.

   The road runs parallel to the canal.

• parallelly

• French: parallèlement
• German: parallel
• Italian: parallelamente
• Portuguese: paralelamente
• Russian: паралле́льно

parallel (plural parallels)

1. One of a set of parallel lines.
   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify ), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], OCLC 960856019 ↗:

2. Direction conformable to that of another line.

   • lines that from their parallel decline

3. A line of latitude.

   The 31st parallel passes through the center of my town.

4. An arrangement of electrical components such that a current flows along two or more paths; see in parallel.
5. Something identical or similar in essential respects.
   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Third”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. In Three Books, Dublin; London: Reprinted for A. Dodd, OCLC 1033416756 ↗:

     None but thyself can be thy parallel.

6. A comparison made; elaborate tracing of similarity.

   Johnson's parallel between Dryden and Pope

7. (military) One of a series of long trenches constructed before a besieged fortress, by the besieging force, as a cover for troops supporting the attacking batteries. They are roughly parallel to the line of outer defenses of the fortress.
8. (printing) A character consisting of two parallel vertical lines, used in the text to direct attention to a similarly marked note in the margin or at the foot of a page.

• perpendicular, skew (?)

• French: parallèle
• German: Parallele
• Portuguese: paralela
• Russian: паралле́ль

• French: parallèle
• German: Breitengrad, Breitenkreis
• Italian: parallelo
• Portuguese: paralelo
• Russian: паралле́ль
• Spanish: paralelo

parallel (parallels, present participle paralleling; past and past participle paralleled)

1. To construct or place something parallel to something else.

   • The needle […] doth parallel and place itself upon the true meridian.

2. Of a path etc: To be parallel to something else.
   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness, chapter 6:

     Archaic covered bridges lingered fearsomely out of the past in pockets of the hills, and the half-abandoned railway track paralleling the river seemed to exhale a nebulously visible air of desolation.

3. Of a process etc: To be analogous to something else.
4. To compare or liken something to something else.
5. To make to conform to something else in character, motive, aim, etc.
   • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “Measvre for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     His life is parallelled / Even with the stroke and line of his great justice.

6. To equal; to match; to correspond to.
7. To produce or adduce as a parallel.
   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene iii]:

     My young remembrance cannot parallel / A fellow to it.

   • 1621, Robert Burton (scholar), The Anatomy of Melancholy, III.2.2.iv:

     Who cannot parallel these stories out of his experience?