1. A plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone or by the locus of points equidistant from a fixed line and a fixed point not on the line.

1. the conic section formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to a tangent plane to the cone; the locus of points equidistant from a fixed point (the focus) and line (the directrix).
2. the explicit drawing of a parallel between two essentially dissimilar things, especially with a moral or didactic purpose. A parable.

1. A kind of curve; one of the conic sections formed by the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane parallel to one of its sides. it is a curve, any point of which is equally distant from a fixed point, called the focus, and a fixed straight line, called the directrix. see focus.
2. one of a group of curves defined by the equation y = axn where n is a positive whole number or a positive fraction. for the cubical parabola n = 3; for the semicubical parabola n = 3/2. see under cubical, and semicubical. the parabolas have infinite branches, but no rectilineal asymptotes.

1. same as parabole.
2. A curve commonly defined as the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel with its side.
3. by extension, any algebraical curve, or branch of a curve, having the line at infinity as a real tangent.

1. a plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the curve