parallelismn.
/ˈparəlɛlɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˈpɛrəˌlɛlˌɪz(ə)m/ 1. † c. The position of being in the same parallel of latitude with a place or object. Obsolete. rare.
a. The state or position of being parallel; direction parallel to or with something; (occasionally also) an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > state or position of being parallel > [noun]
parallelism1610
collaterality1611
collateralness1611
parallel1654
non-concurrency1705
parallelarity1804
non-concurrence1886
parallelity1970
1610 W. Folkingham Feudigraphia ii. v. 55 Proiect all Plumbe-lines in Parallelisme perpendicular to a Parallel or supposed Common Base.
1656 T. Hobbes Six Lessons iii. 28 in Elements Philos. An objection..taken from the Parallelism of two concentrique Circles.
1753 W. Hogarth Anal. Beauty iii. 19 To give the front of a building, with all its equalities and parallelisms.
1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. I. ix. 388 So long as the rays preserve their parallelism.
1836 Penny Cycl. V. 247 The parallelism of the veins of grasses is particularly pointed out.
1880 W. B. Carpenter in 19th Cent. No. 38. 613 Irregularities in the general parallelism of the stratification.
1925 H. C. Booth tr. F. Auerbach Mod. Magnetics (U.K. ed.) viii. 193 The lines of force for the most part run parallel with the axis, and those near the axis maintain their parallelism across the gap.
1991 Martha Stewart Living July 20/3 Continue to measure out equal squares, occasionally checking parallelism with cardboard square, until design is completely penciled out.
b. The state or fact of maintaining the same direction at all times during motion; constancy of direction, as of a moving line.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > [noun] > straight or constant direction
rectitude1578
parallelism1656
1656 tr. T. Hobbes Elements Philos. iv. xxvi. 318 Which parallelisme [L. parallelismus] was for this reason introduced, lest by the Earths annual revolution, its Poles should seem to be necessarily carried about the Sunne, contrary to experience.
1664 N. Ingelo Bentivolio & Urania: 2nd Pt. vi. 204 The Axis of the Earth being directed to keep a perpetual Parallelism.
1799 W. Jones Adams's Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. (ed. 2) IV. xliii. App. 201 The axis of the earth keeps a perfect parallelism and constant inclination to the plane of the ecliptic.
1868 W. Lockyer & J. N. Lockyer tr. A. Guillemin Heavens (ed. 3) 117 It is the parallelism of the axis which accounts for the nearly invariable position of the celestial pole above the horizon in each locality.
1998 Tooling & Production (Nexis) Apr. 60 Many of these errors in such aspects as linear displacement, repeatability, straightness, angular error, squareness, and parallelism of the axis can be measured with laser systems.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > geodetic references > [noun] > latitude > condition of being on the same latitude with
parallelism1739
1739 Descr. of Windward Passage (ed. 2) 8 They fall into the Trade-Winds as soon as they arrive in that Parallelism of Latitude with Jamaica, which carries them right before it all the Way.
2. The quality or character of being parallel or analogous; correspondence or similarity between two or more things. Also: an instance of this; a correlation or connection; (concrete) a parallel example, case, etc.Formerly also: †a statement of such correspondence; the drawing of a parallel or analogy (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [noun] > correspondence, analogy, or parallelism
analogy1550
correspondency1598
parallel1599
correspondence1605
symbolization1607
corresponcy1621
homology1656
parallelism1656
analogicalness1731
analogousness1859
collaterality1872
parallelity1897
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [noun] > correspondence, analogy, or parallelism > a parallel case
example?a1425
exemplarc1450
parallelism1656
the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > comparison > comparison in parallel > [noun] > instance of
parallel1599
parallelism1656
1656 H. More Enthusiasmus Triumphatus (1712) 12 Aristotle makes a long Parallelism betwixt the nature and effects of Wine and Melancholy.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe Pref. sig. **2v This Parallelism, betwixt the Ancient or Genuine Platonick, and the Christian Trinity, might be of some use.
1702 in Rous's Academia Cœlestis vii. 99 In this Parallelism, the True, Internal, and Mystical Sense of the Mosaical Genesis doth consist.
1795 W. Paley View Evidences Christianity (ed. 3) I. i. viii. 153 Parallelisms in sentences, in words, and in the order of words, have been traced out between the gospel of Matthew and that of Luke.
1826 R. Whately Elements Logic iii. 186 The argument rests..on the assumption of parallelism in the two cases.
1869 J. Martineau Ess. Philos. & Theol. 2nd Ser. 312 Their passages of apparent analogy are but false parallelisms.
1891 S. R. Driver Introd. Lit. Old Test. (1892) 22 The parallelism of details which prevails between the two narratives is remarkable.
1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. xvi. 264 The parallelism of lexical and grammatical features can be exhibited.
1972 Nature 8 Dec. 339/2 A rough parallelism between the histories of the Iceland and Hawaii plumes is noteworthy.
2003 Business World (Philippines) (Nexis) 29 May 4 That there are parallelisms between Banco Filipino now and Urban Bank just before it closed should alert the authorities and raise red flags.
3. Prosody. Correspondence, in sense or construction, of successive clauses or passages; an instance of this; a sentence or passage which exemplifies this.Parallelism is part of the formal rhetoric of ancient Hebrew poetry and prose, and is also a common feature of poetry of or based in oral traditions.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > figure of speech > figures of structure or thought > [noun] > parallelism
parallelism1778
1778 R. Lowth Isaiah Prelim. Diss. 10 The correspondence of one Verse, or Line, with another, I call Parallelism. When a Proposition is delivered, and a second is subjoined to it, or drawn under it, equivalent, or contrasted with it, in Sense; or similar to it in the form of Grammatical Construction.
1787 G. Gregory tr. J. D. Michaelis in tr. R. Lowth Lect. Sacred Poetry Hebrews I. ii. 47 (note) I am of [the] opinion..that the Hebrew Poetry originated in the choirs of dancers..when the gestures of the dancer accorded with the music. To this I think the frequent parallelisms of the verses may be referred.
1813 J. J. Conybeare in Archaeologia (1814) 17 269 The parallelism (if I may be so allowed to term it) of the Anglo-Saxon writers... The poems attributed to Cædmon afford innumerable instances of the same figure.
1873 M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma i. 48 The very laws of Hebrew composition which make the second phrase in a parallelism repeat the first in other words.
1935 A. C. Bartlett Larger Rhetorical Patterns Anglo-Saxon Poetry iii. 30 Every literary model impelled the Anglo-Saxon toward structural parallelism in pairs.
1989 R. Alter Pleasures of Reading iii. 100 This paradox is then picked up in what amounts to poetic parallelism (the central formal mechanism of ancient Hebrew verse).
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > [noun] > one who degrades or deprives of rank > levelling
parallelism1798
1798 T. J. Mathias Pursuits of Lit. (ed. 5) p. iv France had been long looking for that, which her philosophers had taught her to term, the parallelism of the sword.
5. Psychology. (Belief in) a correspondence or correlation between mental phenomena and physical events in the brain or nervous system.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > experimental psychology > [noun] > mind-body correspondence
parallelism1860
isomorphism1930
1860 J. D. Morell tr. I. H. Fichte Contrib. Mental Philos. iii. 41 How far into details this parallelism between the mind and the world reaches, it is the province of psychology to show.
1891 M. E. Lowndes tr. H. Höffding Outl. Psychol. ii. 64 Both the parallelism and the proportionality between the activity of consciousness and cerebral activity point to an identity at bottom.
1925 C. D. Broad Mind & its Place iii. 121 Psycho-neural Parallelism has also a positive side.
1956 J. O. Urmson Philos. Anal. ii. vii. 110 One [metaphysician] advocates psycho-physical parallelism, the other interactionism.
1976 Progress in Sci. Culture (E. Majorana Centre) Spring 11 If we are to avoid falling into parallelism,..we have to develop a dualist-interactionist philosophy according to which the self-conscious mind has an identity and activity that are not entirely dependent on brain events.
1980 J. H. Crook Evol. Human Consciousness i. 5 This dualism tended to reinforce a form of psychophysical parallelism in ethology.
6.
a. Biology. Originally: †correspondence between the morphology or developmental stages of related organisms, esp. as explained in terms of recapitulation theory (obsolete). In later use: the development of similar characteristics by two related groups of organisms, in response to similar environmental pressures; parallel evolution. Also: an instance of this. Cf. convergence n. 5.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [noun] > parallelism or vicariance
parallelism1868
vicariism1939
vicariad1944
vicariant1952
vicariance1957
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species x. 325 In the several successive palaeozoic formations of Russia, Western Europe and North America, a similar parallelism in the forms of life has been observed by several authors.]
1868 E. D. Cope in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 295 The relation of genera, which are simply steps in one and the same line of development, may be called exact parallelism, while that of those where one or more characters intervene in the maturity of either the lower or higher genus to destroy identity, may be called incomplete parallelism.
1878 Amer. Naturalist 12 44 This relation of ‘exact parallelism’ is the result of the simplest form of evolution or ‘palingenesis’.
1887 E. D. Cope Origin Fittest ii. 98 Among the higher groups [of Lacertilia Leptoglossa] the parallelisms lie in the arrangement..of the head shields.
1898 A. S. Woodward Outl. Vertebr. Palæontol. p. xxiii The case of the horses is often cited as suggesting that such a parallelism in evolution may have occurred.
1934 W. E. Le Gros Clark Early Forerunners of Man i. 6 If this thesis is carried to a logical conclusion, it will necessarily demand a much greater scope for the phenomenon of parallelism or convergence in evolution.
1967 R. E. Blackwelder Taxon. iv. 139 Parallelism..differs from convergence in that the development of the similar features is the result of and is channelled by a common ancestry.
1988 Nature 22 Dec. 731/1 It seems probable that features such as palatal fusion and the position of the internal nostrils are parallelisms between lungfishes and tetrapods.
2002 S. J. Gould Struct. Evolutionary Theory ix. 911 How could a new species evolve in lockstep parallelism from three ancestral populations spread over more than half the globe?
b. Cultural Anthropology. Similarity between the evolution of two or more different cultures; the independent development of analogous features (such as corresponding language patterns, social customs, etc.) within separate cultures.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > [noun] > similarity of cultural development
parallelism1876
1876 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 5 218 Extensive parallelism between the aboriginal languages of India and those of West Africa... Relationships between distant languages, beyond coincidences and beyond the result of commercial or political intercourse.
1890 Jrnl. Amer. Folk-lore 3 75 The interpretation placed by him on such parallelism is..that such similarities..indicate that in their mental construction the races of the world are akin, and that, given the same plane of culture and similar conditions of environment, the results of mentality are everywhere similar.
1937 R. H. Lowie Hist. Ethnol. Theory xi. 190 Schmidt differs from Morgan mainly in denying universal parallelism, unilinear evolution.
1949 G. P. Murdock Social Struct. vii. 116 The extraordinary extent of parallelism, both in kinship terminology and in types of kin and local groups.
1958 F. M. Keesing Cultural Anthropol. vi. 148 Anthropologists..have therefore been critical of attempts to read historical connections into what they regard as an instance of parallelism between Old and New World cultural elements.
1999 Current Anthropol. 40 352/2 I also agree with..stressing the importance of convergence, parallelism, and independent invention..in the history of human culture.
7. Computing. The use of parallel processing; the execution of operations concurrently by separate parts of a computer, esp. (in later use) by separate microprocessors. Also: the capability of a computer to operate in this way.massive parallelism: see massive adj. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > hardware > [noun] > central processing unit > ways of processing
interleaving1956
multiprocessing1961
parallelism1961
multitasking1966
interleave1967
microprocessing1974
1961 J. A. Glassman (title of M.Sc. thesis, Univ. of Calif.) The effects of digital computer parallelism in solving for the roots of a polynomial.
1978 Communications ACM 21 67/1 Note that all of the functional units can operate concurrently so that in addition to the benefits of pipelining..we also have parallelism across the units too.
1987 Computer Newslet. 24 Apr. 11/3 Architectures to support fifth generation languages and software..almost always involve parallelism to achieve realistic performance.
2002 Personal Computer World Jan. 29/3 Some optimisation is done within the encoder, by taking advantage of features such as pipelining and parallelism in the target architecture.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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