Alternating current - Definitions from Dictionary.com

6 results for: Alternating current

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

alternating current

–noun

an electric current that reverses direction at regular intervals, having a magnitude that varies continuously in sinusoidal manner. Abbreviation: ac

Compare direct current.

[Origin: 1830–40

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Alternating current

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

al·ter·nat·ing current (ôl'tər-nā'tĭng, āl'-)
n. Abbr. AC
An electric current that reverses direction in a circuit at regular intervals.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

alternating current
noun
an electric current that reverses direction sinusoidally; "In the US most household current is AC at 60 cycles per second" [ant: dc]

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

alternating current Audio Help (ôl'tər-nā'tĭng) Pronunciation Key
An electric current that repeatedly changes its direction or strength, usually at a certain frequency or range of frequencies. The term is also used to describe alternating voltages. Power stations generate alternating current because it is easy to raise and lower the voltage of such current using transformers; thus the voltage can be raised very high for transmission (high voltages lose less power as heat than do low voltages), and lowered to safe levels for domestic and industrial use. In North America, the frequency of alternation of the direction of flow is 60 Hz, or 60 cycles per second. In other parts of the world it is 50 Hz. Compare direct current. See Notes at current , Tesla.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
alternating current (AC)

An electric current in which the flow reverses periodically. (Compare direct current (DC).)

Note: In the United States, most household current is AC, going through sixty reversal cycles each second. Electric motors in household appliances are designed to work with current at this rate of reversal.

[Chapter:] Technology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Alternating current

Al"ter*nat`ing cur"rent\ (Elec.) A current which periodically changes or reverses its direction of flow.

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