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Parallel vs Equal - What's the difference?

parallel | equal |

As adjectives the difference between parallel and equal

is that parallel is equally distant from one another at all points while equal is the same in all respects.

As nouns the difference between parallel and equal

is that parallel is one of a set of parallel lines while equal is a person or thing of equal status to others.

As verbs the difference between parallel and equal

is that parallel is to construct or place something parallel to something else while equal is to be equal to, to have the same value as; to correspond to.

As an adverb parallel

is with a parallel relationship.

parallel

Adjective

(-)
  • Equally distant from one another at all points.
  • The horizontal lines on my notebook paper are parallel .
  • * Hakluyt
  • revolutions parallel to the equinoctial
  • Having the same overall direction; the comparison is indicated with "to".
  • The railway line runs parallel to the road.
    The two railway lines are parallel .
  • * Addison
  • When honour runs parallel with the laws of God and our country, it cannot be too much cherished.
  • (hyperbolic geometry) said of a pair of lines:'' that they either do not intersect or they coincide Jos Leys — ''The hyperbolic chamber (paragraph 8)
  • (computing) Involving the processing of multiple tasks at the same time
  • a parallel algorithm

    Antonyms

    * perpendicular, skew, serial

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • With a parallel relationship.
  • The road runs parallel with the canal.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One of a set of parallel lines.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Who made the spider parallels design, / Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line?
  • Direction conformable to that of another line.
  • * Garth
  • lines that from their parallel decline
  • 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.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • None but thyself can be thy parallel .
  • A comparison made; elaborate tracing of similarity.
  • Johnson's parallel between Dryden and Pope
  • (military) 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.
  • (printing) 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.
  • Antonyms

    * perpendicular, skew (?)

    Verb

  • To construct or place something parallel to something else.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
  • The needle doth parallel and place itself upon the true meridian.
  • Of a path etc: To be parallel to something else.
  • Of a process etc: To be analogous to something else.
  • To compare or liken something to something else.
  • To make to conform to something else in character, motive, aim, etc.
  • * Shakespeare
  • His life is parallelled / Even with the stroke and line of his great justice.
  • To equal; to match; to correspond to.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • To produce or adduce as a parallel.
  • * Shakespeare
  • My young remembrance cannot parallel / A fellow to it.
    (John Locke)

    Derived terms

    * embarrassingly parallel * forty-ninth parallel * parallel algorithm * parallel circuit * parallel computing * parallelism * parallelogram * parallel universe * unparalleled

    See also

    * sequential

    References

    ----

    equal

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic) * (archaic)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (label) The same in all respects.
  • * (1671-1743)
  • They who are not disposed to receive them may let them alone or reject them; it is equal to me.
  • Exactly identical, having the same value.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.}}
  • (label) Fair, impartial.
  • * 1644 , (John Milton), (Aeropagitica) :
  • it could not but much redound to the lustre of your milde and equall Government, when as private persons are hereby animated to thinke ye better pleas'd with publick advice, then other statists have been delighted heretofore with publicke flattery.
  • * Bible, (w) xviii. 29
  • Are not my ways equal ?
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • Thee, O Jove, no equal judge I deem.
  • (label) Adequate; sufficiently capable or qualified.
  • * 1881 , (Jane Austen), , p. 311
  • her comprehension was certainly more equal to the covert meaning, the superior intelligence, of those five letters so arranged.
  • * (1609-1674)
  • The Scots trusted not their own numbers as equal to fight with the English.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • It is not permitted to me to make my commendations equal to your merit.
  • * (Ralph Waldo Emerson) (1803-1882)
  • whose voice an equal messenger / Conveyed thy meaning mild.
  • (label) Not variable; equable; uniform; even.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • an equal temper
  • (label) Intended for voices of one kind only, either all male or all female; not mixed.
  • Usage notes

    *

    Synonyms

    * (the same in all respects) identical * (exactly identical) equivalent, identical * (unvarying) even, fair, uniform, unvarying

    Verb

  • (mathematics) To be equal to, to have the same value as; to correspond to.
  • Two plus two equals four.
  • To be equivalent to; to match
  • * 2004 , Mary Levy and Jim Kelly, Marv Levy: Where Else Would You Rather Be?
  • There was an even more remarkable attendance figure that underscores the devotion exhibited by our fans, because it was in 1991 that they set a single season in-stadium attendance record that has never been equaled .
  • (informal) To have as its consequence.
  • Losing this deal equals losing your job.
    Might does not equal right.

    Synonyms

    * (to be equal to) be, is * (sense) entail, imply, lead to, mean, result in, spell

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person or thing of equal status to others.
  • We're all equals here.
    This beer has no equal .
  • * Addison
  • Those who were once his equals envy and defame him.
  • (obsolete) State of being equal; equality.
  • (Spenser)

    Synonyms

    * (person or thing of equal status to others) peer

    Derived terms

    * equally * equalize/equalise * unequal * equal temperament

    Statistics

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