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• arc
  arc

  noun

  any unbroken part of the circumference of a circle or other curved line.
• ARC
  ARC

  noun

  AIDS-related complex.

arc

¹ American  

[ahrk] / ɑrk /

noun

• arcs
  plural

1. Geometry. any unbroken part of the circumference of a circle or other curved line.

2. Also called electric arc. Electricity. a luminous bridge formed in a gap between two electrodes.

3. Astronomy. the part of a circle representing the apparent course of a heavenly body.

4. anything bow-shaped.

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verb (used without object)

arced, arcked, arcing, arcking

1. to form an electric arc.

2. to move in a curve suggestive of an arc.

ARC ² American  

[ahrk] / ɑrk /

noun

1. Pathology. AIDS-related complex.

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ARC ³ American  

Or A.R.C.

abbreviation

1. American Red Cross.

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arc ¹ British  

/ ɑːk /

noun

1. something curved in shape

2. part of an unbroken curved line

3. a luminous discharge that occurs when an electric current flows between two electrodes or any other two surfaces separated by a small gap and a high potential difference

4. astronomy a circular section of the apparent path of a celestial body

5. maths a section of a curve, graph, or geometric figure

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verb

1. (intr) to form an arc

prefix

1. maths specifying an inverse trigonometric function: usually written arcsin , arctan , arcsec , etc, or sometimes sin–1 , tan–1 , sec–1 , etc

ARC ² British  

abbreviation

1. AIDS-related complex: an early condition in which a person infected with the AIDS virus may suffer from such mild symptoms as loss of weight, fever, etc

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arc Scientific  

/ ärk /

1. A segment of a circle.

2. See electric arc

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• arcs
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of arc

1350–1400; Middle English ark < Latin arcus bow, arch, curve

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Explanation

An arc is a curve. You can describe the bend of a rainbow as an arc. In math, an arc is one section of a circle, but in life you can use the word to mean any curved shape, like the arc of a ballerina's arm or the graceful arc of a flowering vine over a trellis. In the 14th century, arc first meant the movement of the sun in the sky, from the Old French arc, "bow or arch," and the Latin root arcus, also "bow or arch."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

arc ARC arcs arced arcing

I was there when the Confederate flag finally came down off the capitol, a seminal moment in the arc of a changing state.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The strategy confirmed electric arc furnaces as the future of British steelmaking, replacing traditional blast furnaces, which resulted in job losses at steelworks including Port Talbot.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

To her arguments, we would add the historical arc that shaped this approach.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

“If you’re looking at the arc — not as a Super Bowl but how the NFL wanted to come back to Los Angeles — you have Disney, a longstanding, old-school entertainment partner,” Demoff said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026

He shot his two-hand set in a soft, spinning arc that, when true, snapped through the net in a swishing voice that is the purest music of the game.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Alongside the world's media, a few hundred fans filled the balcony above and quickly made their allegiance known as "Oh Anthony Joshua" rang around the British Airways ARC.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

The British energy major agreed to buy Canadian energy producer ARC for about $13.6 billion in April.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

ARC produces about 375,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with liquids accounting for 40% of it, Shell says.

From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 2026

Shell also is taking on $2.8 billion of ARC net debt and leases.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 27, 2026

The public backlash against SEA for bringing suit helped to hasten the demise of ARC as a standard when PKWare and others introduced new, incompatible archivers with better compression algorithms. :archive: n.

From The Jargon File, Version 2.9.10, 01 Jul 1992 by Eric S. Raymond

I remember they sat us down in their production office, and we had champagne, and they gave us each our character arcs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026

The film is Marvel's last big-screen outing before Doomsday, the long-awaited culmination of multiple superhero story arcs after Avengers: Endgame.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

"Our research shows that hydrous mantle melting beneath island arcs is a key driver of gold enrichment," says Timm.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

Before Alphy, past seasons featured arcs about its citizens and vicars confronting bigotry.

From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2026

Ahead of them, over the mountains to the north, the pale arcs and loops of the Northern Lights began to glow and tremble.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman

Suddenly, the whale’s dark body arced above the surface before diving down to reveal its tail, or fluke.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026

Wing Elliot Daly, having pondered a blindside dart off a rolling maul, arced round the back of England's backline.

From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2025

The title, pulled from the pastime’s rich glossary, refers to an arced throw of such deliberately underwhelming velocity that it confounds the batter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2025

This one arced over Chelsea’s wall and dropped crisply into the bottom corner beyond Kepa Arrizabalaga’s despairing dive.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 18, 2023

The flare arced up into the murk with along whoosh and broke somewhere out over the water in a clouded light and hung there.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

The ultra-fast missiles travel on a high arcing trajectory before crashing down into their target.

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

It soars upward and hangs there for four seconds, six seconds, eight—a black meteor arcing against the blue sky.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025

The familiar approach, arcing towards the stumps, heels kicking up, limbs loose.

From BBC ● May 23, 2025

Blackened marks and other signs of damage on the steel structure suggest that arcing occurred, sending electricity through the equipment that was supposed to have been unused, according to their lawsuit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2025

She frowned, then made an arcing motion with her hand.

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs

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