curvature

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“
The first of these curvatures is called kyphosis, in which the curvature is posterior; second, lordosis, in which the curvature is anterior; third, scoliosis, in which it is lateral, to the right or left.

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Definitions (47)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun The act of curving or the state of being curved.
  2. noun Mathematics The ratio of the change in the angle of a tangent that moves over a given arc to the length of the arc.
  3. noun Mathematics The limit of this ratio as the length of the arc approaches zero.
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Examples (50)

  • Pressing them together along the perimeter changes the curvature, and therefore the focus. —  June, 1943
  • Where the curvature is negative, particles will flow away, leaving voids. —  Omni: March 1994
  • This is a tricky picture because of this concept of space having these intrinsic properties of curvature--that it can change its curvature and stretch its scale and trade it off for time. —  Omni: March 1994
  • At a given point is a purely geometrical quantity describing curvature, and describes the mass distribution at that point. —  AnalogSFF,July-August2008
  • The manner in which the cylinder is mounted or "blocked" for fabrication of a cylindrical lens will be dictated predominantly by the radius of curvature (ROC) and the dimension parallel to the cylindrical axis. —  optics.org all content
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Latin curvātūra, from curvātus, past participle of curvāre, to bend, from curvus, curved; see sker-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = Spanish Italian curvatura = Portuguese curvadura, from Latin curvatura, from curvare, past participle curvatus, bend, curve: see curvate, curve, v.
 

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/ˈkərvətʃjur/
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