Meanings
nef1
nounnef (plural nefs)
plural nefs
- An extravagant table ornament and container used in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, made in the shape of a ship.
nef2
adjectivenef (not comparable)
- not comparablealgebraic geometryOf a line bundle on a complete algebraic variety over a field: such that the degree of its restriction to every algebraic curve in the variety is non-negative.
[…] this condition is the numerical consequence of the condition that for some mgt;0, the linear system #124;mD#124; is effective and free; thus nef = "numerically (effective and free)".
1983, Miles Reid, “Minimal Models of Canonical 3-Folds”, in Advanced Studies in Pure Mathematics, volume 1, page 131
Origin
nef · noun
- Frenchnef
- Englishnef
Borrowed from French nef. Doublet of nave and nau.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →nef · adjective
Short for numerically effective; introduced by Miles Reid.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with nef
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
nef. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nef
MLA
“nef.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nef. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nef,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nef.
Source: nef on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.