Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Parallelism \Par"al*lel*ism\, n. [Gr. ?, fr. ? to place side by
   side, or parallel: cf. F. parall['e]lisme.]
   1. The quality or state of being parallel.

   2. Resemblance; correspondence; similarity.

            A close parallelism of thought and incident. --T.
                                                  Warton.

   3. Similarity of construction or meaning of clauses placed
      side by side, especially clauses expressing the same
      sentiment with slight modifications, as is common in
      Hebrew poetry; e. g.:

            At her feet he bowed, he fell: Where he bowed, there
            he fell down dead.                    --Judg. v. 27.

Source : WordNet®

parallelism
     n : similarity by virtue of correspondence [syn: {correspondence}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

parallelism
     
        1. {parallel processing}.
     
        2.  The maximum number of independent subtasks in a
        given task at a given point in its execution.  E.g. in
        computing the expression
     
        	(a + b) *
     
        (c + d) the expressions a, b, c and d can all be calculated in
        parallel giving a degree of parallelism of (at least) four.
        Once they have been evaluated then the expressions a + b and c
        + d can be calculated as two independent parallel processes.
     
        The {Bernstein condition} states that processes P and Q can be
        executed in parallel (or in either sequential order) only if:
     
        (i) there is no overlap between the inputs of P and the
        outputs of Q and vice versa and
     
        (ii) there is no overlap between the outputs of P, the outputs
        of Q and the inputs of any other task.
     
        If process P outputs value v which process Q reads then P must
        be executed before Q.  If both processes write to some
        variable then its final value will depend on their execution
        order so they cannot be executed in parallel if any other
        process depends on that variable's value.
     
        (1995-05-07)