hyperbola

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun an open curve formed by a plane that cuts the base of a right circular cone

From New Latin hyperbola, from Ancient Greek ὑπερβολή (huperbolḗ). Doublet of hyperbole.

Comets also have their troubles, their perihilions, their hyperbolas and their parabolas. — Remarks, Bill Nye
This resemblance is not necessarily one of exact form, but just as the ellipse, hyperbola, and parabola are projections of the circle in the sense that there is a natural and fixed law of connection between them, so that every point of one corresponds by a certain relation with every point of the other, so the resemblance between the sensation and the quality of the object is always in the form of a fixed law of order, which, however unknown to us it may now be, is capable of being found out. — Leibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding: A Critical Exposition, John Dewey

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