parabolic
adjective
Did you know?
The two distinct meanings of parabolic trace back to the development of Late Latin and New Latin. Late Latin is the Latin language used by writers in the third to sixth centuries. In that language, the word for "parable" was parabola—hence, the "parable" sense of parabolic. New Latin refers to the Latin used since the end of the medieval period, especially in regard to scientific description and classification. In New Latin, parabola names the same geometrical curve as it does in English. Both meanings of parabola were drawn from the Greek word for "comparison": parabolē.
Examples of parabolic in a Sentence
Solo Ceesay, Rolling Stone, 26 Feb. 2025
These types of experiments in partial gravity can be done on parabolic airplane flights, but those only provide a few seconds of the right conditions to simulate the Moon's gravity.
—Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 7 Feb. 2025
The reflector antennas, which have already been in use for several months with excellent gain, according to Chahat, are flat antennas designed to mimic a parabolic dish while taking up far less space.
—IEEE Spectrum, 26 Nov. 2018
These orbiters, such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey, have large, parabolic antennas that use large amounts of power, on the order of 100 watts, to communicate with Earth.
—IEEE Spectrum, 21 July 2021
See All Example Sentences for parabolic
Cite this Entry
“Parabolic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parabolic. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share