Meaning & use
parallel
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Meanings
adjectivecomparablemathematics
Running side by side and always the same distance apart, so that they never meet.
Grammar: Often used with to or with: the road is parallel to the river.
Patterns
- parallel to something
- parallel with something
The two railway tracks are parallel to each other.
Draw a line parallel to the edge of the page.
The street runs parallel with the canal.
adjectivebefore a noun
Happening or existing at the same time or in a similar way, often side by side.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: parallel developments.
Patterns
- parallel to something
The two companies pursued parallel strategies.
There was a parallel investigation by the police.
Both countries went through parallel economic changes.
nouncountable
A similarity or comparison between two things, especially showing that one resembles another.
Grammar: Often draw a parallel or have no parallel.
Patterns
- a parallel between something and something
- draw a parallel
Historians draw a parallel between the two crises.
His story has a clear parallel in the earlier novel.
The success of the team is without parallel.
verbtransitive
To be similar to or to match something else, or to go alongside it.
Grammar: Takes an object: his path paralleled hers.
Patterns
- parallel something
The new law closely parallels one passed last year.
The footpath parallels the river for miles.
Her career paralleled that of her sister.
Word forms
| third person singular | parallels |
|---|---|
| past tense | paralleled |
| past participle | paralleled |
| -ing form | paralleling |
| plural | parallels |
Common combinations
- run parallel to
- The cycle path runs parallel to the highway.
- draw a parallel
- The speaker drew a parallel between sport and business.
- parallel universe
- The film is set in a parallel universe.
- in parallel
- The two teams worked in parallel to save time.
- without parallel
- Her talent was without parallel in the school.
- parallel lines
- Parallel lines never cross, however far they go.
Synonyms and how they differ
- equidistant
- Equidistant means the same distance from something, and is a more technical and narrower idea than parallel.
- similar
- Similar means alike in some way but says nothing about direction or timing.
- analogy
- An analogy is a comparison used to explain something, while a parallel is a real match between two things.
- comparable
- Comparable stresses that two things can fairly be measured against each other.
Opposites
Word family
- parallelism noun
- the quality of being parallel or similar
- parallelogram noun
- a four-sided shape with opposite sides parallel
- parallelize verb
- to arrange tasks to run at the same time
- unparalleled adjective
- better than anything else
Commonly confused: parallel or perpendicular? parallel or paralyze?
parallel vs perpendicular
Perpendicular lines meet at a right angle, while parallel lines never meet.
parallel vs paralyze
Paralyze means to make unable to move, and it only looks similar in spelling.
Practice
Which preposition completes the sentence? The path runs parallel ___ the beach.
Choose one answer.
Parallel is followed by to (or sometimes with). From, by and at do not form the usual pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “parallel”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.