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bandwidth

 - 7 dictionary results
Financial Dictionary

Bandwidth definition


The data transfer capacity of a network. It is measured in bits per second.

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If your Internet connection is slower than a three-toed sloth, it's probably because of a lack of bandwidth.

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See also: ADSL, Broadband, Internet Service Provider - ISP, MP3

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band·width

[band-width, -with]
–noun
1.
Telecommunications. the smallest range of frequencies constituting a band, within which a particular signal can be transmitted without distortion.
2.
the transmission capacity of an electronic communications device or system; the speed of data transfer: a high-bandwidth Internet connection.

Origin:
1925–30; band2 + width
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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World English Dictionary
bandwidth (ˈbændˌwɪdθ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  the range of frequencies within a given waveband used for a particular transmission
2.  the range of frequencies over which a receiver or amplifier should not differ by more than a specified amount
3.  the range of frequencies used in a specific telecommunications signal

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Word Origin & History

bandwidth
1930, in electronics, from band (1) + width.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Science Dictionary
bandwidth   (bānd'wĭdth', -wĭth')  Pronunciation Key 
  1. The numerical difference between the upper and lower frequencies of a band of electromagnetic radiation, especially an assigned range of radio frequencies.

  2. The amount of data that can be passed along a communications channel in a given period of time. For analog devices, such as standard telephones, bandwith is the range of frequencies that can be transmitted and is expressed in hertz (cycles per second). For digital devices, bandwidth is measured in bits per second. The wider the bandwidth, the faster data can be sent.


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

bandwidth definition


The amount of data that can be carried by a digital communication medium, often expressed in hertz.

Note: Within the radio and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum limited bandwidth is available, and in the United States the use of the spectrum is regulated and allocated by the FCC. (See VHF and UHF.)
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Computing Dictionary

bandwidth definition

communications
The difference between the highest and lowest frequencies of a transmission channel (the width of its allocated band of frequencies).
The term is often used erroneously to mean data rate or capacity - the amount of data that is, or can be, sent through a given communications circuit per second.
[How is data capacity related to bandwidth?]
[Jargon File]
(2001-04-24)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © Denis Howe 2010 http://foldoc.org
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