Spectrum - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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

spec·trum

Audio Help [spek-truh

m] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural -tra

Audio Help [-truh] Pronunciation Key, -trums.

Physics.

a.	an array of entities, as light waves or particles, ordered in accordance with the magnitudes of a common physical property, as wavelength or mass: often the band of colors produced when sunlight is passed through a prism, comprising red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

this band or series of colors together with extensions at the ends that are not visible to the eye, but that can be studied by means of photography, heat effects, etc., and that are produced by the dispersion of radiant energy other than ordinary light rays. Compare band spectrum, electromagnetic spectrum, mass spectrum.

2.	a broad range of varied but related ideas or objects, the individual features of which tend to overlap so as to form a continuous series or sequence: the spectrum of political beliefs.

[Origin: 1605–15; < L: appearance, form, equiv. to spec(ere) to look, regard + -trum instrumental n. suffix

]

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

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Spectrum

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

spec·trum Audio Help (spěk'trəm) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. spec·tra (-trə) or spec·trums

Physics The distribution of a characteristic of a physical system or phenomenon, especially:
1. The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, as by an incandescent body, arranged in order of wavelengths.
2. The distribution of atomic or subatomic particles in a system, as in a magnetically resolved molecular beam, arranged in order of masses.
3. A range of values of a quantity or set of related quantities.
4. A broad sequence or range of related qualities, ideas, or activities: the whole spectrum of 20th-century thought.
A graphic or photographic representation of such a distribution.
1. A range of values of a quantity or set of related quantities.
2. A broad sequence or range of related qualities, ideas, or activities: the whole spectrum of 20th-century thought.

[Latin, appearance, from specere, to look at; see spek- in Indo-European roots.]

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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.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
spectrum

1611, "apparition, specter," from L. spectrum "appearance, image, apparition," from specere "to look at, view" (see scope (1)). Meaning "band of colors formed from a beam of light" first recorded 1671. Spectroscope (1861) is a hybrid, with Gk. -skopion, from skopein "to look at, examine," which is from the same PIE root as spectrum.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

spectrum
noun
1.	an ordered array of the components of an emission or wave
2.	a broad range of related objects or values or qualities or ideas or activities

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
spectrum1 [ˈspektrəm] noun — plurals ˈspectrums, ~ˈspectra [-trə]

the visible spectrum

Arabic:	طَيْف
Chinese (Simplified):	（可见）光谱
Chinese (Traditional):	(可見)光譜
Czech:	spektrum
Danish:	spektrum
Dutch:	spectrum
Estonian:	spekter
Finnish:	kirjo
French:	spectre
German:	das Spektrum
Greek:	φάσμα
Hungarian:	színkép
Icelandic:	litróf, skali
Indonesian:	spektrum

Italian:	spettro
Japanese:	スペクトル
Latvian:	spektrs
Lithuanian:	spektras
Norwegian:	spektrum
Polish:	widmo
Portuguese (Brazil):	espectro
Portuguese (Portugal):	espectro
Russian:	спектр
Slovak:	spektrum
Slovenian:	spekter
Spanish:	espectro
Swedish:	spektrum
Turkish:	tayf

spectrum2 [ˈspektrəm] noun

the full range (of something)
Example: The actress's voice was capable of expressing the whole spectrum of emotion.

Arabic:	سِلْسِلَه، نِطاق
Chinese (Simplified):	范围
Chinese (Traditional):	範圍
Czech:	rejstřík
Danish:	register
Dutch:	spectrum
Estonian:	astmik, skaala
Finnish:	asteikko
French:	spectre
German:	die Skala
Greek:	εύρος, γκάμα
Hungarian:	spektrum
Icelandic:	litróf
Indonesian:	rangkaian

Italian:	spettro
Japanese:	範囲
Latvian:	diapazons; apjoms; gamma
Lithuanian:	gama, diapazonas
Norwegian:	hele registeret
Polish:	wachlarz
Portuguese (Brazil):	espectro
Portuguese (Portugal):	gama
Russian:	диапазон
Slovak:	škála, stupnica
Slovenian:	spekter
Spanish:	espectro, gama
Swedish:	spektrum, skala
Turkish:	yelpaze, dizi

spectrum3 [ˈspektrəm] noun

the entire range of radiation of different wavelengths, part of which (the visible spectrum) is normally visible to the naked eye

Arabic:	نِطاق طَيْف الإشْعاع
Chinese (Simplified):	频谱
Chinese (Traditional):	頻譜
Czech:	spektrum
Danish:	spektrum
Dutch:	spectrum
Estonian:	spekter
Finnish:	spektri
French:	spectre
German:	das Spektrum
Greek:	φάσμα
Hungarian:	színkép, spektrum
Icelandic:	sÿnilegt litróf
Indonesian:	spektrum cahaya

Italian:	spettro
Japanese:	光スペクトル
Latvian:	spektrs
Lithuanian:	spektras
Norwegian:	(synlig) spektrum
Polish:	widmo
Portuguese (Brazil):	espectro
Portuguese (Portugal):	espectro
Russian:	диапазон; спектр
Slovak:	spektrum
Slovenian:	spekter
Spanish:	espectro
Swedish:	spektrum
Turkish:	tayf

spectrum4 [ˈspektrəm] noun

a similar range of frequencies of sound (the sound spectrum)

Arabic:	نِطاق مَوجات الصَّوْت
Chinese (Simplified):	声谱
Chinese (Traditional):	聲譜
Czech:	(zvukové) spektrum
Danish:	spektrum
Dutch:	spectrum
Estonian:	helispekter
Finnish:	skaala
French:	spectre
German:	das Spektrum
Greek:	φάσμα
Hungarian:	hangszínkép
Icelandic:	hljóðróf
Indonesian:	spektrum bunyi

Italian:	spettro
Japanese:	音スペクトル
Latvian:	diapazons
Lithuanian:	diapazonas
Norwegian:	lydregisteret
Polish:	zakres
Portuguese (Brazil):	espectro
Portuguese (Portugal):	espectro
Russian:	диапазон
Slovak:	(zvukové) spektrum
Slovenian:	spekter
Spanish:	espectro
Swedish:	spektrum
Turkish:	dalga kuşağı

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

spectrum Audio Help (spěk'trəm) Pronunciation Key
Plural spectra (spěk'trə) or spectrums

A range over which some measurable property of a physical phenomenon, such as the frequency of sound or electromagnetic radiation, or the mass of specific kinds of particles, can vary. For example, the spectrum of visible light is the range of electromagnetic radiation with frequencies between between 4.7 × 10¹⁴ and 7.5 × 10¹⁴ hertz.
The observed distribution of a phenomenon across a range of measurement. See more at atomic spectrum , spectroscopy.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
spectrum

The range of wavelengths characteristic of a specific type of radiation.

Note: The spectrum making up visible light contains light in the colors violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, with violet having the shortest wavelength and highest frequency, and red having the longest wavelength and lowest frequency.

[Chapter:] Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

Spectrum
ZX Spectrum

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

Spectrum

Dif*frac"tion\, n. [Cf. F. diffraction.] (Opt.) The deflection and decomposition of light in passing by the edges of opaque bodies or through narrow slits, causing the appearance of parallel bands or fringes of prismatic colors, as by the action of a grating of fine lines or bars.

Remarked by Grimaldi (1665), and referred by him to a property of light which he called diffraction. --Whewell.

Diffraction grating. (Optics) See under Grating.

Diffraction spectrum. (Optics) See under Spectrum.

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