parallel

Syllables: pa·ra·llelUK/ˈpæ.ɹəˌlɛl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈpaɹəˌlɛl/

parallel adjective: equally distant from one another at all points.

Adjective

parallel (not comparable)

Equally distant from one another at all points.
- The horizontal lines on my notebook paper are parallel.
- the instrument held with its plane roughly parallel to the equinoctial or celestial equato1911, William Robert Martin, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Navigation
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.1711 July 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, June 21, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 99; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New...
(excessive) Either not intersecting, or coinciding.

Antonyms:

perpendicular, skew
Involving the processing of multiple tasks at the same time.
- a parallel algorithm
Antonyms:

serial, sequential
(figuratively) Analogous, similar, comparable.
- the parallel lives of two citizens
- In those days she had admired his pluralistic openness of mind, and struggled, in her kitchen, towards a parallel eclecticism, learning to cook the dosas and uttapams of South India as well as the soft meatballs of Kashmir.1988, Salman Rushdie, chapter V, in The Satanic Verses, page 255
(usually, dimensions) Coexisting but normally not interacting with the regular reality.
- parallel universe

Adverb

parallel (comparative more parallel, superlative most parallel)

With a parallel relationship.
- The road runs parallel to the canal.

Noun

parallel (plural parallels)

One of a set of parallel lines.
- Who made the spider parallels design, / Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line?1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC
Direction conformable to that of another line.
- lines that from their parallel decline1699, Samuel Garth, The Dispensary
A line of latitude.
- The 31st parallel passes through the center of my town.
An arrangement of electrical components such that a current flows along two or more paths; see in parallel.
Something identical or similar in essential respects.
- It has also been suggested that environmental crimes might include the proposed crime of ‘ecocide’ or ‘geocide’, with proponents of this view attempting to draw parallels between destructive acts towards the environment and those against the qualifying groups for genocide. […] [M]any who advocate...2013, Alexandra R. Harrington, “The Crime of Aggression and Threats to the Future”, in Sébastien Jodoin, Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, editors, Sustainable Development, International Criminal...
- None but thyself can be thy parallel.1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Third”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC
A comparison made; elaborate tracing of similarity.
- Johnson's parallel between Dryden and Pope
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.
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.

Verb

parallel (third-person singular simple present parallels, present participle paralleling or parallelling[UK, nonstandard], simple past and past participle paralleled or parallelled[UK, nonstandard])

To construct or place something parallel to something else.
- The needle […] doth parallel and place itself upon the true meridian.1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC
Of a path etc: To be parallel to something else.
- 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.1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 6, in The Whisperer in Darkness
- Racing on, we parallel the M5 doing 95mph, according to the app on my smartphone.2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 66
Of a process etc: To be analogous to something else.
To compare or liken something to something else.
- Although its spokesmen do not hesitate to parallel their oppression to that of blacks, the gay male community has chosen to ignore the voices of black gay men.1984 April 14, Reginald Shepherd, “White Men's Black Men”, in Gay Community News, page 11
- These scholars argue that gender and sexual identity are like nature and the environment; they parallel the queer/performance connection to the environmental/performance connection. I consider, instead, how all these categories actively interact and overlap.2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 119
To make to conform to something else in character, motive, aim, etc.
- [H]is life is paralel’d / Euen with the ſtroke and line of his great Iuſtice: […]c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
To equal; to match; to correspond to.
- He will ſteale ſir an Egge out of a Cloiſter: for rapes and rauiſhments he paralels Neſſus.c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
To produce or adduce as a parallel.
- Macb[eth]. ’Twas a rough Night. / Lenox. My young remembrance cannot paralell / A fellow to it.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- Who cannot parallel theſe ſtories out of his experience?1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Importunitie and Opportunity of the Place, Conference, Discourse, Singing, Dauncing, Musicke, Amorous Tales, Obiects, Kissing, Familiaritie...

parallel meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

parallel in Hindi

equally distant from one another at all points: समानान्तर samānāntar

parallel in Tamil

இணை, இணையான, கணினியியல்

parallel in Marathi

parallel: समांतर samāntar

parallel in Urdu

مساوی, متوازی, جواب, نظیر

More languagesFewer languages

parallel in Bengali: তুলনা, সাদৃশ্য, সমান্তরাল রেখা, উপমা
parallel in Telugu: సమాంతరంగా, సమాంతరం, సమాంతర
parallel in Malayalam: സമാന്തരമായ, സമഗതിയായ, താത്പര്യമുള്ള, സമാനദിശയായ
parallel in Kannada: ಹೋಲುವ, ಸರಿತೆರಪಿನ, ಒಂದೇ ತೆರಪಿನ
parallel in Punjabi: ਸਮਾਨਾਂਤਰ, ਪੈਰਲਲ, ਪੈਰਲੇਲਲ
parallel in Gujarati: સમાંતર, સમાન્તરાલ
parallel in Odia: ସମାନ୍ତରାଳ, ସମାନ୍ତରାଲ, ସମାନାନ୍ତର
parallel in Sanskrit: मञ्जरी mañjarī
parallel in Nepali: समानान्तर, समान्तर, समानान्तरता
parallel in Tagalog: agapay
parallel in Arabic: مُوَازٍ muwāzin, مُتَوَازٍ mutawāzin
parallel in Malay: selari
parallel in Indonesian: paralel
parallel in Persian: موازی movaazi, همراستا ham-raastaa
parallel in Thai: ขนาน kà-nǎan
parallel in Myanmar: ပြိုင် pruing

Examples of parallel in a sentence

The flutter in this room is from the hard, parallel walls.
She's scored very highly with the parallel bars; let's see how she does with the horse.
The total resistance of two resistors connected in parallel is easily calculated using a simple formula.

All 40 example sentences with parallel

Antonyms of parallel

Forms of parallel

Adjective
alternative form (obsolete)	paralell
Adverb
comparative	more parallel
superlative	most parallel
Noun
plural	parallels
Verb
third-person singular present	parallels
present participle	paralleling
present participle	parallelling[UK nonstandard]
past participle	paralleled
past	paralleled
past participle	parallelled[UK nonstandard]
past	parallelled[UK nonstandard]

Past tense of parallel: paralleled

Plural of parallel: parallels

Origin of parallel

From Middle French parallèle and its etymon Latin parallēlus, parallēlos. The verb is from the noun. See also para- and allo-.

Words formed from parallel

Phrases with parallel

12 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about parallel

What does parallel mean?: Parallel means equally distant from one another at all points.
What is parallel in Hindi?: Parallel in Hindi is समानान्तर (samānāntar). See Parallel meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is parallel?: Parallel can be an adjective, an adverb, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce parallel?: Parallel is pronounced /ˈpæ.ɹəˌlɛl/ (UK).

Words near parallel in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: parallel (page history and authors); parallel (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); समांतर (Marathi) (page history and authors); parallel (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); parallel (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); parallel (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); parallel (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); parallel (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); parallel (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); parallel (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); parallel (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); parallel (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-ne-parallel.ogg.

Cite this entry: “parallel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/parallel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.