From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishparallelpar‧al‧lel1 /ˈpærəlel/ ●●○ AWL adjective 1 HMtwo lines, paths etc that are parallel to each other are the same distance apart along their whole length Lines AB and CD are parallel. two parallel roadsparallel to She was travelling parallel to her previous route.parallel with The railway is parallel with the canal. Take the road running parallel to the main road just after the village.2 formalTIME/AT THE SAME TIME similar and happening at the same time Social changes in Britain are matched by parallel trends in some other countries.
Examples from the Corpus
parallel• Most parallel environments operate best when accessed data shows its local point of reference, the Forum says.• Thus we say that the feeling quality between two parallel lines is different from the feeling between two lines that cross.• At the end of the other will be three parallel lines meaning the runner has to backtrack and give three long toots.• The airport's two parallel runways are only 750 feet apart.• The film attempts to follow the parallel story lines of the novel.• According to Parsytec, the Xplorer offers users a migration path to its GigaCube massively parallel supercomputers which are also to use T9000s.• a parallel universe• The system will also support message passing models such as parallel virtual machine and the high performance Fortran extensions of Fortran 90.running parallel• The pack has two aluminium staves running parallel inside the main compartment which give stability and rigidity to the whole structure.• This type of system works by pumping pond water through a quartz tube running parallel to an ultra violet germicidal lamp.• As for the Confederates, they were obliged to set up a larger fish-hook running parallel to that of the Federals.• They bear several veins running parallel to the central vein.• Many of the latter are the forms mentioned in the first paragraph of this section as running parallel to the coast.• Most rowhouses are built with the joists running parallel to the front and rear walls of the house.• The displays are shown in Victorian cases housed in a long, narrow gallery running parallel to the windows on to Chambers Street.• There were two walls, running parallel with each other.parallelparallel2 ●○○ AWL noun [countable] 1 LIKE/SIMILARa relationship or similarity between two things, especially things that exist or happen in different places or at different timesparallel with Entering the world of fine art, she found many parallels with the world of fashion.parallel between There are many parallels between Yeats and the Romantic poets. books that attempt to draw parallels between brains and computers2 → in parallel with somebody/something3 → have no parallel/be without parallel4 SGan imaginary line drawn on a map of the Earth, that is parallel to the equator the 38th parallelExamples from the Corpus
parallel• The 42nd parallel is the northern border of Pennsylvania.• There are certain parallels between the situation in Europe today and that which existed 90 years ago.• Kakar finds parallels between the Hindi film and popular myths.• On the home front some of the parallels are just as strong.• The parallel with writing is clear.• You might say there were parallels in my life.draw parallels• Early twentieth-century sociologists also drew parallels between the workings of biological and social systems, some of which were extremely crude.• John Mortimer made the presentation speech, drawing parallels between Dickens and Dostoevsky.parallelparallel3 AWL verb (paralleled, paralleling also parallelled, parallelling British English) [transitive] written EQUALif one thing parallels another, they happen at the same time or are similar, and seem to be related The rise in greenhouse gases parallels the reduction in the ozone layer. His career parallels that of his father.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
parallel• The development of this metaphorical structure, however, is gradual, and parallels a stylistic feature of the poetry.• This would parallel any company policy on not giving out personal telephone numbers but instead routing calls through the switchboard.• Improvements in management information systems should parallel improvements in scientific computing.• That stunning concept parallels some admittedly far-out astrophysical speculation of the present time.• A damaged sewage line parallels that road.• Thus, it was thought best that the development of the linguistic framework should parallel the development of the workshop activity.• The new standards are part of a revolution in the teaching of mathematics that parallels the revolution in the teaching of writing.• The railroad tracks paralleled the stream for several miles.• a period of political change that closely parallels what happened in France in the 18th centuryFrom Longman Business Dictionaryparallelpar‧al‧lel /ˈpærəlel/ adjective [only before a noun]1ECONOMICSCOMMERCEparallel goods, imports etc are sold avoiding the DISTRIBUTION CHANNELs (=ways of making goods available to the public) approved by the makersLuxury brands manufacturers are angry about the sale of parallel goods in supermarkets.2COMPUTING involving more than one computer operation happening at the same timeparallel computing → compare serialOrigin parallel2 (1500-1600) Latin parallelus, from Greek parallelos, from para “beside” + allelon “of one another” 