parabola

/pəˈɹæbələ/

//pəˈɹæbələ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"parabola" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“parabola” is uncommon English (frequency #60,342 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#60,342
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The conic section formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to a tangent plane to the cone; the locus of points equidistant from a fixed point (the focus) and line (the directrix).

Corpus desk

Index EN-parabola · parabola · English

parabola · rank #60,342 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #60,342
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH parishioner

Nearest frequency peer: parishioner (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “parabola”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “parabola” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for parabola
PropertyValue
Headwordparabola
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pəˈɹæbələ/
Letters8
Frequency rank#60,342
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “parabola” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).parabolafalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “parishioner” (#60,343), “parkside” (#60,344), “pampers” (#60,339). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “parabola” is #60,342. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

parabola is uncommon English at frequency #60,342 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /pəˈɹæbələ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for parabola, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from New Latin parabola, from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ), from παραβάλλω (parabállō, “I set side by side”), from παρά (pará, “beside”) + βάλλω (bállō, “I throw”). Doublet of parable, parole, and palaver. The correct English form is parabola, spelled P-A-R-A-B-O-L-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    The conic section formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to a tangent plane to the cone; the locus of points equidistant from a fixed point (the focus) and line (the directrix).
  2. 2
    Synonym of parable.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how parabola appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. And it saves his life. As he's buzzing down a curving, narrow canal, a narrow green parabola appears hanging across the water in front of him, suddenly rising out of the water and snapping into a perfectly straight line at neck level.

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin parabola, from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ), from παραβάλλω (parabállō, “I set side by side”), from παρά (pará, “beside”) + βάλλω (bállō, “I throw”). Doublet of parable, parole, and palaver.

This word in other languages

parábola(Español)parabole(Français)Parabel(Deutsch)parábola(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "parabola"?
"parabola" is spelled P-A-R-A-B-O-L-A. The IPA pronunciation is /pəˈɹæbələ/.
What does "parabola" mean?
As a noun, "parabola" means: The conic section formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to a tangent plane to the cone; the locus of points equidistant from a fixed point (the focus) and line (the directrix).
How do you pronounce "parabola"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "parabola" is /pəˈɹæbələ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "parabola"?
Borrowed from New Latin parabola, from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ), from παραβάλλω (parabállō, “I set side by side”), from παρά (pará, “beside”) + βάλλω (bállō, “I throw”). Doublet of parable, parole, and palaver. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "parabola", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

parkside#60,344overhand#60,331peterman#60,362Nijmegen#60,311

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list