Curvature
['kɜːvətʃə] or ['kɝvətʃɚ]
Definition
(noun.) the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface.
(noun.) the rate of change (at a point) of the angle between a curve and a tangent to the curve.
(noun.) (medicine) a curving or bending; often abnormal; 'curvature of the spine'.
Typed by Darla--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The act of curving, or the state of being bent or curved; a curving or bending, normal or abnormal, as of a line or surface from a rectilinear direction; a bend; a curve.
(n.) The amount of degree of bending of a mathematical curve, or the tendency at any point to depart from a tangent drawn to the curve at that point.
Typist: Owen
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Bending, bend, flexure, crook, curvity, curve, incurvation, ARCUATION.
Typist: Wanda
Examples
- When we look at near objects, the muscles act in such a way that the lens bulges out, and becomes thick in the middle and of the right curvature to focus the near object upon the screen. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- They are sent out through this magnetic field, and follow the earth’s curvature, in the same way that tidal waves follow the ocean’s surface. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- When we look at an object several hundred feet away, the muscles change their pull on the lens and flatten it until it is of the proper curvature for the new distance. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- In the skeletons of the several breeds, the development of the bones of the face, in length and breadth and curvature, differs enormously. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- These curves, according to their curvature, will give a circular motion to the shot during its flight. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- The country was a rolling prairie, and, from the higher ground, the vision was obstructed only by the earth's curvature. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- It is designed to ascertain variations in corneal curvature for the correction of corneal astigmatism. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
Checked by Bianca