Curve vs. Surface

Curveadjective

(obsolete) Bent without angles; crooked; curved.

‘a curve line’; ‘a curve surface’;

Surfacenoun

The overside or up-side of a flat object such as a table, or of a liquid.

Curvenoun

A gentle bend, such as in a road.

‘You should slow down when approaching a curve.’;

Surfacenoun

The outside hull of a tangible object.

Curvenoun

A simple figure containing no straight portions and no angles; a curved line.

‘She scribbled a curve on the paper.’;

Surfacenoun

(figurative) Outward or external appearance.

‘On the surface, the spy looked like a typical businessman.’;

Curvenoun

A grading system based on the scale of performance of a group used to normalize a right-skewed grade distribution (with more lower scores) into a bell curve, so that more can receive higher grades, regardless of their actual knowledge of the subject.

‘The teacher was nice and graded the test on a curve.’;

Surfacenoun

The locus of an equation (especially one with exactly two degrees of freedom) in a more-than-two-dimensional space.

Curvenoun

(analytic geometry) A continuous map from a one-dimensional space to a multidimensional space.

Surfacenoun

(fortification) That part of the side which is terminated by the flank prolonged, and the angle of the nearest bastion.

Curvenoun

(geometry) A one-dimensional figure of non-zero length; the graph of a continuous map from a one-dimensional space.

Surfaceverb

(transitive) To provide something with a surface.

Curvenoun

(algebraic geometry) An algebraic curve; a polynomial relation of the planar coordinates.

Surfaceverb

(transitive) To apply a surface to something.

Curvenoun

(topology) A one-dimensional continuum.

Surfaceverb

(intransitive) To rise to the surface.

Curvenoun

The attractive shape of a woman's body.

Surfaceverb

(transitive) To bring to the surface.

Curveverb

(transitive) To bend; to crook.

‘to curve a line’; ‘to curve a pipe’;

Surfaceverb

(intransitive) To come out of hiding.

Curveverb

(transitive) To cause to swerve from a straight course.

‘to curve a ball in pitching it’;

Surfaceverb

(intransitive) For information or facts to become known.

Curveverb

(intransitive) To bend or turn gradually from a given direction.

‘the road curves to the right’;

Surfaceverb

(transitive) To make information or facts known.

Curveverb

To grade on a curve (bell curve of a normal distribution).

‘The teacher will curve the test.’;

Surfaceverb

(intransitive) To work a mine near the surface.

Curveverb

(slang) To reject, to turn down romantic advances

Surfaceverb

(intransitive) To appear or be found.

Curveadjective

Bent without angles; crooked; curved; as, a curve line; a curve surface.

Surfacenoun

The exterior part of anything that has length and breadth; one of the limits that bound a solid, esp. the upper face; superficies; the outside; as, the surface of the earth; the surface of a diamond; the surface of the body.

‘The bright surface of this ethereous mold.’;

Curvenoun

A bending without angles; that which is bent; a flexure; as, a curve in a railway or canal.

Surfacenoun

Hence, outward or external appearance.

‘Vain and weak understandings, which penetrate no deeper than the surface.’;

Curvenoun

A line described according to some low, and having no finite portion of it a straight line.

Surfacenoun

A magnitude that has length and breadth without thickness; superficies; as, a plane surface; a spherical surface.

Curveverb

To bend; to crook; as, to curve a line; to curve a pipe; to cause to swerve from a straight course; as, to curve a ball in pitching it.

Surfacenoun

That part of the side which is terminated by the flank prolonged, and the angle of the nearest bastion.

Curveverb

To bend or turn gradually from a given direction; as, the road curves to the right.

Surfaceverb

To give a surface to; especially, to cause to have a smooth or plain surface; to make smooth or plain.

Curvenoun

the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes

Surfaceverb

To work over the surface or soil of, as ground, in hunting for gold.

Curvenoun

a line on a graph representing data

Surfaceverb

To rise from the depths of a liquid to the surface; as, the submarine surfaced to recharge its batteries.

Curvenoun

a baseball thrown with spin so that its path curves as it approach the batter

Surfaceverb

To become known or public; - said of information.

Curvenoun

the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface

Surfaceverb

To show up, as a person who was in hiding; as, he absconded with the payroll and surfaced in Argentina.

Curvenoun

curved segment (of a road or river or railroad track etc.)

Surfacenoun

the outer boundary of an artifact or a material layer constituting or resembling such a boundary;

‘there is a special cleaner for these surfaces’; ‘the cloth had a pattern of red dots on a white surface’;

Curveverb

turn sharply; change direction abruptly;

‘The car cut to the left at the intersection’; ‘The motorbike veered to the right’;

Surfacenoun

the extended two-dimensional outer boundary of a three-dimensional object;

‘they skimmed over the surface of the water’; ‘a brush small enough to clean every dental surface’; ‘the sun has no distinct surface’;

Curveverb

extend in curves and turns;

‘The road winds around the lake’;

Surfacenoun

the outermost level of the land or sea;

‘earthquakes originate far below the surface’; ‘three quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water’;

Curveverb

form an arch or curve;

‘her back arches’; ‘her hips curve nicely’;

Surfacenoun

a superficial aspect as opposed to the real nature of something;

‘it was not what it appeared to be on the surface’;

Curveverb

bend or cause to bend;

‘He crooked his index finger’; ‘the road curved sharply’;

Surfacenoun

information that has become public;

‘all the reports were out in the open’; ‘the facts had been brought to the surface’;

Curveverb

form a curl, curve, or kink;

‘the cigar smoke curled up at the ceiling’;

Surfacenoun

a device that provides reactive force when in motion relative to the surrounding air; can lift or control a plane in flight

Curve

In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point.

Surfaceverb

come to the surface

Surfaceverb

put a coat on; cover the surface of; furnish with a surface;

‘coat the cake with chocolate’;

Surfaceverb

appear or become visible; make a showing;

‘She turned up at the funeral’; ‘I hope the list key is going to surface again’;

Surfaceadjective

on the surface;

‘surface materials of the moon’; ‘subsurface materials of the moon’;

Surfaceadjective

involving a surface only;

‘her beauty is only skin-deep’; ‘superficial bruising’; ‘a surface wound’;

Surfacenoun

the outside part or uppermost layer of something

‘poor road surfaces’; ‘the earth's surface’;

Surfacenoun

the level top of something

‘roll out the dough on a floured surface’;

Surfacenoun

the area of an outer part or uppermost layer of something

‘the surface area of a cube’;

Surfacenoun

the upper limit of a body of liquid

‘fish floating on the surface of the water’;

Surfacenoun

the outward appearance of someone or something, especially as distinct from less obvious aspects

‘Tom was a womanizer, but on the surface he remained respectable’; ‘surface appearances’;

Surfacenoun

a continuous set of points that has length and breadth but no thickness.

Surfaceadjective

relating to or found on the surface of something

‘surface layers’;

Surfaceadjective

denoting ships which travel on the surface of the water as distinct from submarines

‘the surface fleet’;

Surfaceadjective

carried by or denoting transportation by sea or overland rather than by air

‘surface mail’;

Surfaceverb

rise or come up to the surface of the water or the ground

‘he surfaced from his dive’;

Surfaceverb

come to people's attention; become apparent

‘the row first surfaced two years ago’;

Surfaceverb

(of a person) appear after having been asleep

‘it was almost 11.30 before Anthony surfaced’;

Surfaceverb

provide (something, especially a road) with a particular surface

‘a small path surfaced with terracotta tiles’;

Surface

A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is the portion with which other materials first interact.