curvation

C3U1R1V4A1T1I1O1N1

noun

The act of curving or bending, or the shape of the resulting curve; curvature.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

nouncurvation (countable and uncountable, plural curvations)

plural curvations

  1. countableuncountableThe act of curving or bending, or the shape of the resulting curve; curvature.

    Note the curvation of the ankles. If spontaneous movement corrects curvation, then there is no problem.·

    2011, Margaret R Colyar, Assessment Of The School-Age Child and Adolescent, page 120
    4 more examples

    Knowing, then, the conical form and the diameter of the wheels, as well as the average velocity of the motion and the breadth of the way, this expression will give the surplus of elevation y that suits the radius of curvation r.

    1840, François Marie Guyonneau de Pambour, A Practical Treatise on Locomotive Engines Upon Railways

    According to the calculated rate of curvation of a spherical body of 25,000 miles in circumference, a straight line running at right angles with the perpendicular at the transmitting stations, Mount Uncompahgre, would run as a tangent from the line of curvation so that in the distance of 183 miles, the curvation would place Mount Ellen downward from the tangent line, below the line of vision nearly 3¾ miles!

    1899, "Rectangle" (pseudonym of T. Winship.), Zetetic Cosmogony, page 125

    Imperfect curvation, or crookedness of the features, the head, the limbs, the organs, and body, producing malformations of the organs of speech, hearing, and sight.

    1900, Mrs. Mary Olmstead Stanton, The Encyclopedia of Face and Form Reading, page 57

    Nephroptosia is the most fruitful cause of uro-ureter. It offers numerous opportunities for flexion, curvation and torsion of the ureter.

    1909, Byron Robinson, “Conclusions in Regard to Uro-Ureter due to Nephroptosia”, in Henry G. Spooner, editor, The American Journal of Urology and Sexology, volume 5, page 182
  2. countableuncountableA measure of how much a curve deviates from a straight line.

    Divide this angle by the degree of curvation and the result 2.6/4 = .65 is the length of the chord EV.

    1850, Samuel Wright Mifflin, Methods of Location
    2 more examples

    The ductility of a concrete cross-section will be defined as the ratio of the ultimate curvation and the yield curvation.

    2001, M Y H Bangash, Manual of Numerical Methods in Concrete, page 872

    The curvation can also be considered as the angle enclosed by two tangents on the endpoints of an infinitesimal small interval of the polynomial.

    2006, Günter Wilkening, Ludger Koenders, Nanoscale Calibration Standards and Methods

Origin

  1. Latincurvatio
  2. Englishcurvation

From Latin curvatio, equivalent to curve + -ation.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Spanish curvación
  • curvaciónTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

curvation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curvation

MLA

“curvation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curvation. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “curvation,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/curvation.

Source: curvation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.