curve

1. 1.

   turn sharply; change direction abruptly

   “The car cut to the left at the intersection”

   “The motorbike veered to the right”

   Synonymsswervesheertrendveerslueslewcut

   Broaderturn

   Narrowerpeel offyaw
2. 2.

   extend in curves and turns

   “The road winds around the lake”

   “the path twisted through the forest”

   Synonymswindtwist

   Broaderbe

   Narrowercircumvolutespiralsnake
3. 3.

   form an arch or curve

   “her back arches”

   “her hips curve nicely”

   Synonymsarcharc

   Broaderbend

   Narrowercamber
4. 4.

   bend or cause to bend

   “He crooked his index finger”

   “the road curved sharply”

   Synonymscrook

   Broaderbend

   Narrowerrecurve
5. 5.

   form a curl, curve, or kink

   “the cigar smoke curled up at the ceiling”

   Synonymscurlkink

   Broaderchange surface

Other forms of curve

plural

curves·

past tense

curved·

present participle

curving·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about curve

What does curve mean?

curve means "the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes". That is the primary sense; the word has 10 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in curve?

curve has 1 syllable: curve. In IPA it is /ˈkɝv/.

What is another word for curve?

Close synonyms include curved shape, curve ball, breaking ball, bender, curvature. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of curve?

The recorded antonyms are straight line.

Is curve a common word?

curve is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.