Showing results for "analog"

• a variation of analogue.

analog

American  

[an-l-awg, -og] / ˈæn lˌɔg, -ˌɒg /

noun

analogs plural

1. analogue.

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adjective

1. of or relating to a mechanism, device, or technology that represents data by measurement of a continuous physical variable, as voltage or pressure.

2. displaying a readout by a pointer or hands on a dial rather than by numerical digits.

   an analog clock.

3. relating to or denoting an activity, process, etc., that is not online or computerized but that can also exist or happen with the help of such technology: She prefers analog dating, meeting and getting to know someone first in a real-life setting before deciding whether to pursue a personal relationship.

   In most ways, the grocery industry has remained stubbornly analog for the past few decades.

   She prefers analog dating, meeting and getting to know someone first in a real-life setting before deciding whether to pursue a personal relationship.

analog British  

/ ˈænəˌlɒɡ /

noun

1. a variant spelling of analogue

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analog Scientific  

/ ăn′ə-lôg′ /

1. Measuring or representing data by means of one or more physical properties that can express any value along a continuous scale. For example, the position of the hands of a clock is an analog representation of time.

2. Compare digital

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1. An organ or structure that is similar in function to one in another kind of organism but is of dissimilar evolutionary origin. The wings of birds and the wings of insects are analogs.

2. A chemical compound that has a similar structure and similar chemical properties to those of another compound, but differs from it by a single element or group. The antibiotic amoxicillin, for example, is an analog of penicillin, differing from the latter by the addition of an amino group.

3. Compare homologue

Usage

The spelling analog is a US variant of analogue in all its senses, and is also the generally preferred spelling in the computer industry

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• analogs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of analog

First recorded in 1955–60; see origin at analogue ( def. )

Explanation

Analog is the opposite of digital. Any technology, such as vinyl records or clocks with hands and faces, that doesn't break everything down into binary code to work is analog. Analog, you might say, is strictly old school. The original definition of analog is something that is similar to something else; the two are said to be analogous. In technological terms, it means something that has an output that's proportional or similar to its input — usually a voltage. Anything digital is the exact opposite: whatever comes out the other end bears no relationship to the soup of binary code that goes in. The word can also be spelled analogue.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

analog analogs

"What we find is that this quantization of the electrical conductance in quantum Hall has an analog with the cosmological constant," Hui said.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

Last month, Nolan told “60 Minutes” that in this age of digitization and AI, shooting his films with a 70mm Imax camera is “a human process, an analog process.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026

Germany’s industrial-heavy DAX was 0.8% higher, led by analog semiconductor manufacturer Infineon—up 4.3%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026

Other analog semiconductor stocks were also on the rise Tuesday.

From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026

The game ran on an ancient analog computer and was played on a tiny oscilloscope screen about five inches in diameter.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Courts and litigants have spent years searching for historical analogs, debating how close is close enough and struggling to determine when a modern regulation meaningfully resembles something from the founding era.

From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2026

Citi’s global macro strategy team led by Dirk Willer went in search of historical analogs, looking through the last five oil crises.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 13, 2026

For example, some state constitutional provisions set forth rights—such as the right to a public education or the right to a clean and healthy environment—that have no explicit federal constitutional analogs.

From Slate ● Dec. 17, 2024

In addition to increasing the release of insulin and slowing stomach emptying, GLP-1 analogs are thought to impact the brain’s reward circuits, leading to fewer cravings and decreased use.

From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2024

Some of the operations of tensor calculus have analogs in algebra; many do not.

From Fifty Per Cent Prophet by Garrett, Randall

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