curve

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said UK laws were "well behind the curve", with her organisation saying around 400 million people around the world have legal access to some form of assisted dying.

But here we’re grading on a curve — and factoring in the reality that the same place where we can easily dash out on foot to grab a French dip sandwich or take in the symphony is also a place filled with enough dark alleys, vacant storefronts and litter-strewn sidewalks to make the on-foot feel on guard after dark.

Mastering so many new concepts came with a learning curve that no longer appears steep.

In one case - where a drone dropped an explosive on two pedestrians, injuring one of them so badly he could not walk - this was a curve at a T-junction, which pointed to the Dniprovs'kyi district or the nearby suburb of Antonivka, rather than Kherson city centre.

But the features will likely have a steep learning curve for some users, so Apple Store employees are tasked with walking customers through them.