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capacitor

[ kuh-pas-i-ter ]

noun

, Electricity.
  1. a device for accumulating and holding a charge of electricity, consisting of two equally charged conducting surfaces having opposite signs and separated by a dielectric.


capacitor

/ kəˈpæsɪtə /

noun

  1. a device for accumulating electric charge, usually consisting of two conducting surfaces separated by a dielectric Former namecondenser


capacitor

/ kə-păsĭ-tər /

  1. An electrical device consisting of two conducting plates separated by an electrical insulator (the dielectric ), designed to hold an electric charge. Charge builds up when a voltage is applied across the plates, creating an electric field between them. Current can flow through a capacitor only as the voltage across it is changing, not when it is constant. Capacitors are used in power supplies, amplifiers, signal processors, oscillators, and logic gates.


capacitor

  1. A device used in electrical circuits . The capacitor stores an electrical charge for short periods of time, and then returns it to the circuit.


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Word History and Origins

Origin of capacitor1

First recorded in 1925–30; capacit(y) + -or 2

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Example Sentences

To return to his present day, his flux capacitor needed a providential shaft of lightning.

"Nice job these babies got," commented Gaines as he checked the capacitor circuits.

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capacitive reactancecapacity