parallel

adj

1. (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 equato”

   “Upon interaction with ss- nucleic acid (NA) targets (deoxyribooligonucleotides (ODNs) or ribooligonucleotides), they form very stable anti-parallel and parallel duplexes [3 ], and the melting temperatures of the antiparallel duplexes are 10 to 15°C higher than those of the parallel duplexes.”

2. (not-comparable)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.”

   “All three parallel valleys of the Llynvi, Garw and Ogmore are much the same in physical character: the lower reaches are wooded and not unattractive, but as the railway climbs on ever-steepening grades, the hills on either hand grow barer and closer together, while in all respects the scene becomes more sombre, with the terraced, slate-roofed colliery towns and the road, railway and river all struggling for space in the narrowing defiles.”

3. (excessive, not-comparable)Either not intersecting, or coinciding.
4. (not-comparable)Involving the processing of multiple tasks at the same time.

   “a parallel algorithm”

5. (figuratively, not-comparable)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.”

6. (not-comparable, usually)Coexisting but normally not interacting with the regular reality.

   “parallel universe”

adv

1. With a parallel relationship.

   “The road runs parallel to the canal.”

noun

1. One of a set of parallel lines.

   “Who made the spider parallels design, / Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line?”

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.

   “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 for the creation of either ecocide or geocide principally argue that the best place to try such crimes is through an apparatus created in a separate and environment-oriented treaty.”

   “None but thyself can be thy parallel.”

6. A comparison made; elaborate tracing of similarity.

   “Johnson's parallel between Dryden and Pope”

7. 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. 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

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.

   “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.”

   “Racing on, we parallel the M5 doing 95mph, according to the app on my smartphone.”

3. Of a process etc: To be analogous to something else.
4. 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.”

   “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.”

5. 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: […]”

6. To equal; to match; to correspond to.

   “He will ſteale ſir an Egge out of a Cloiſter: for rapes and rauiſhments he paralels Neſſus.”

7. To produce or adduce as a parallel.

   “Macb[eth]. ’Twas a rough Night. / Lenox. My young remembrance cannot paralell / A fellow to it.”

   “Who cannot parallel theſe ſtories out of his experience?”

   “Many have exerciſed their Wits in parallelling the Inconveniences of Regal and Popular Government, […]”