wave front


nounPhysics.
  1. a surface, real or imaginary, that is the locus of all adjacent points at which the phase of oscillation is the same.

Origin of wave front

1
First recorded in 1865–70

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wave front in a sentence

  • Because as each wave front moves from air to water, it slows down.

    Islands of Space | John W Campbell
  • The student will note that for the sake of greater precision we here say wave front instead of wave.

    A Text-Book of Astronomy | George C. Comstock
  • With a dense prism, the wave-front of the shorter waves is more tilted towards the base than the wave-front of the longer waves.

    The Mechanism of Life | Stphane Leduc
  • Hence the wave-front is flattened, the curvature of the refracted wave being less than that of the original wave of diffusion.

    The Mechanism of Life | Stphane Leduc
  • Hence the wave-front is tilted towards the base of the prism, and this tilting is repeated when the wave-front leaves the prism.

    The Mechanism of Life | Stphane Leduc

British Dictionary definitions for wavefront

wavefront

/ (ˈweɪvˌfrʌnt) /


noun
  1. physics a surface associated with a propagating wave and passing through all points in the wave that have the same phase. It is usually perpendicular to the direction of propagation

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for wave front

wave front

  1. The set of points in space reached by a wave or vibration at the same instant as the wave travels through a medium. Wave fronts generally form a continuous line or surface. The lines formed by crests of ripples on a pond, for example, correspond to curved wave fronts.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.