Standard Lemma guide

curvature

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈkɜɹ.və.tʃəɹ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K ER1 V AH0 CH ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The shape of something curved.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The extent to which a subspace is curved within a metric space.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: mathematics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The extent to which a Riemannian manifold is intrinsically curved.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Qualifier: differential geometry

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: curve

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: shape, form, configuration, contour, conformation

Narrower terms: curliness, waviness, straightness

5

noun

Meaning 5

the rate of change (at a point) of the angle between a curve and a tangent to the curve

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: derived function, derivative, differential coefficient, differential, first derivative

6

noun

Meaning 6

(medicine) a curving or bending; often abnormal

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • curvature of the spine

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: condition, status

History

Etymology

From Latin curvare, from Latin curvatura. See also curve. Displaced native Old English ġebīeġednes.

Across languages

Translations

57 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: lakim — the shape of something curved
  • Arabic: انحناء (anhina') — the shape of something curved
  • Azerbaijani: əyrilik — the shape of something curved
  • Basque: kurbadura — the shape of something curved
  • Catalan: curvatura — the shape of something curved
  • Czech: zakřivení — the shape of something curved
  • Dutch: kromming — the shape of something curved
  • Finnish: kaarevuus — the shape of something curved
  • French: courbure — the shape of something curved
  • Galician: curvatura — the shape of something curved
  • German: Krümmung — the shape of something curved
  • Greek: καμπυλότητα (kampylótita) — the shape of something curved
  • Greek: κυρτότητα (kyrtótita) — the shape of something curved
  • Hindi: वक्रता (vakratā) — the shape of something curved
  • Hungarian: görbület — the shape of something curved
  • Hungarian: elgörbülés — the shape of something curved
  • Hungarian: elferdülés — the shape of something curved
  • Hungarian: -ferdülés — the shape of something curved
  • Indonesian: lengkungan — the shape of something curved
  • Irish: cuaire — the shape of something curved
  • Italian: curvatura — the shape of something curved
  • Japanese: 曲率 (kyokuritsu) — the shape of something curved
  • Korean: 곡률 (gongnyul) — the shape of something curved
  • Latvian: izliekums — the shape of something curved
  • Lithuanian: išlinkis — the shape of something curved
  • Macedonian: закривеност (zakrivenost) — the shape of something curved
  • Māori: ānautanga — the shape of something curved
  • Norwegian Bokmål: krumning — the shape of something curved
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kurvatur — the shape of something curved
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kurvatur — the shape of something curved
  • Old English: ġebīeġednes — the shape of something curved
  • Polish: krzywizna — the shape of something curved
  • Portuguese: curvatura — the shape of something curved
  • Russian: кривизна (krivizna) — the shape of something curved
  • Spanish: curvatura — the shape of something curved
  • Turkish: eğrilik — the shape of something curved
  • Welsh: crymedd — the shape of something curved
  • Chinese Mandarin: 曲率 (qūlǜ) — mathematics: the extent to which a subspace is curved within a metric space
  • Finnish: kaarevuus — mathematics: the extent to which a subspace is curved within a metric space
  • Macedonian: закривеност (zakrivenost) — mathematics: the extent to which a subspace is curved within a metric space
  • Norwegian Bokmål: krumning — mathematics: the extent to which a subspace is curved within a metric space
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kurvatur — mathematics: the extent to which a subspace is curved within a metric space
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kurvatur — mathematics: the extent to which a subspace is curved within a metric space
  • Polish: krzywizna — mathematics: the extent to which a subspace is curved within a metric space
  • Portuguese: curvatura — mathematics: the extent to which a subspace is curved within a metric space
  • Spanish: curvatura — mathematics: the extent to which a subspace is curved within a metric space
  • Tagalog: kakiluan — mathematics: the extent to which a subspace is curved within a metric space
  • Finnish: kaarevuus — differential geometry: of a Riemannian manifold
  • French: courbure — differential geometry: of a Riemannian manifold
  • German: Krümmung — differential geometry: of a Riemannian manifold
  • Greek: καμπυλότητα (kampylótita) — differential geometry: of a Riemannian manifold
  • Indonesian: lekuk — differential geometry: of a Riemannian manifold
  • Macedonian: закривеност (zakrivenost) — differential geometry: of a Riemannian manifold
  • Polish: krzywizna — differential geometry: of a Riemannian manifold
  • Romanian: curbură — differential geometry: of a Riemannian manifold
  • Spanish: curvatura — differential geometry: of a Riemannian manifold
  • Tagalog: kakiluan — differential geometry: of a Riemannian manifold
Real reading context

curvature in complete knowledge articles