Parallelism

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpaɹəlɛlɪz(ə)m/

Definitions

1. The property of remaining equidistant at all points
2. The quality of two or more lines or objects always having the same distance between them ; the similarity or matching pattern in the arrangement of elements within a text or speech
3. A state where lines or surfaces run side by side and never intersect ; a rhetorical or literary technique where components have a similar form or function to create balance

Etymology: "Parallelism" combines "parallel," which comes from Greek "parallelos," meaning "alongside one another," with the suffix "-ism," a common noun-forming ending. The word thus describes things set side by side, and the Greek core is literally about lines running beside each other without meeting. Its immediate ancestor is the Late Latin "parallelismus," which carried the same sense of side-by-side correspondence. The word's most striking twist lies in its meaning beyond geometry. In English, "parallelism" usually refers to a deliberate repetition of grammatical structure or ideas, as in a sentence like "I came, I saw, I conquered," where each clause mirrors the one before. This sense is strongest in literary and rhetorical analysis, where it describes how two lines or phrases correspond in form or meaning. The same underlying image of things arranged alongside one another has moved from lines on a page to patterns of language.

Synonyms: similarity, correspondence, analogy, congruence, equivalence

Antonyms: divergence, discrepancy, contrast, difference, dissimilarity