radiator

American  

[rey-dee-ey-ter] / ˈreɪ diˌeɪ tər /

noun

• radiators
  plural

1. a person or thing that radiates.

2. any of various heating devices, as a series or coil of pipes through which steam or hot water passes.

3. a device constructed from thin-walled tubes and metal fins, used for cooling circulating water, as in an automobile engine.

4. Radio. a transmitting antenna.

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radiator British  

/ ˈreɪdɪˌeɪtə /

noun

1. a device for heating a room, building, etc, consisting of a series of pipes through which hot water or steam passes

2. a device for cooling an internal-combustion engine, consisting of thin-walled tubes through which water passes. Heat is transferred from the water through the walls of the tubes to the airstream, which is created either by the motion of the vehicle or by a fan

3. an electric fire

4. electronics the part of an aerial or transmission line that radiates electromagnetic waves

5. an electric space heater

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radiator Scientific  

/ rā′dē-ā′tər /

1. A body that emits radiation. Radiators are commonly designed to transfer heat energy from one place to another, as in an automobile, in which the radiator cools the engine by transferring heat energy from the engine to the air, or in buildings, where radiators transfer heat energy from a furnace to the air and objects in the surrounding room.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• radiators
  plural

Etymology

Origin of radiator

First recorded in 1830–40; radiate + -or ²

Explanation

A room in an old house is often heated by a radiator, a metal device made up of pipes that circulate steam or hot water. If your house is heated with radiators, there will usually be one in each room, all connected to a central heating system. A radiator gets hot, and it sends that heat out into the room — in other words, it radiates heat. In fact, the word radiator originally meant "anything that radiates," including heat, light, or energy. By the 1850's, radiator had come to primarily mean "heater in a building or house."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

radiator radiators

Many marmot problems appear to revolve around their appetite for salt, which they find on sweat-stained hiking poles and backpack straps as well as radiator fluid, said Blumstein, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

As a result, removing 10 megawatts of waste heat can require radiator surfaces comparable to the size of two football fields.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

Add to that, if your home is badly insulated, you'll need a lot of heat pump and a lot of radiator to prevent you losing heat as fast as the heat pump is making it.

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026

Your mother’s radiator strike is just one microexample of how consumers and economists are worried about the impact these latest events will have on the global oil supply, gas bills and the economy.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 4, 2026

“Let’s just drop this for a while,” he said, and tossed the face towel over onto the radiator; it landed on the title page of the Rick-Tina manuscript.

From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger

Ban daytime heat indoors: Appliances are secret radiators.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026

These data centers, along with their solar panels and radiators, cannot be launched in one piece and would need to be assembled in space.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

Across the UK, 1.5m homes are heated by oil, usually a kind of kerosene burned in a boiler to heat water for radiators and hot water.

From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026

Then it can use that heat to warm up water to run through your radiators.

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026

The four tall windows, frosted with vapor from the steam radiators, allowed a gray snowfall light to descend into the courtroom.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

Related Words

• boiler
• fastball
• furnace
• oven
• stove