alternator

[ awl-ter-ney-ter, al- ]

See synonyms for alternator on Thesaurus.com

nounElectricity.

a generator of alternating current.

Origin of alternator

First recorded in 1890–95; alternate + -or²

Words Nearby alternator

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use alternator in a sentence

Those considering RV use will be interested to know that a kit is available to allow recharging via the vehicle’s alternator while driving.
The best portable power stations to keep your devices charged | Bob Beacham | October 1, 2021 | Popular-Science
The powerful alternator on the Wondership was, of course, worked by the same motor that drove the big propellers.
The Boy Inventors' Radio Telephone | Richard Bonner
Bedded down upon solid rock there was a high-tension alternator capable of absorbing the entire output of the mighty turbine.
Spacehounds of IPC | Edward Elmer Smith
I'm going to run a penstock up those falls, and put in a turbine, driving a high-tension alternator.
Spacehounds of IPC | Edward Elmer Smith
The humming whir of the great alternator rose gradually into a scream like the outcry of some angry thing.
The Man Who Rocked the Earth | Arthur Train

It might be the turbine alternator of the Ring running by its own inertia for some time after the discharge had ceased.
The Man Who Rocked the Earth | Arthur Train

British Dictionary definitions for alternator

alternator

/ (ˈɔːltəˌneɪtə) /

noun

an electrical machine that generates an alternating current

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 alternator

alternator

[ ôl′tər-nā′tər ]

An electric generator that produces alternating current. The generator's coil is rotated (by a turbine, motor, or other power source), and its circular path causes it to cut cross a magnetic field (set up by strong magnets), first in one direction, then the other, with each cycle. The electric potential induced in the coil by this motion thus alternates between positive and negative once with each cycle, resulting in alternating current. See more at induction.

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