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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  

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 ² 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 Scientific  

/ ärk /

1. A segment of a circle.

2. See electric arc

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• arcs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of arc

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

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

"To have seen the arc of this bill come to fruition has been a marathon," Tasneen said.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

The Japanese company is investing about 900 million euros at its Slovakian operating unit to build an electric arc furnace and an air separation unit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 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

Now it’s up to us to shape the arc of the next century.

From Slate ● Sep. 3, 2026

A silver mist was rising from the snow and a delicate arc of light had formed above them.

From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin

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

Shell says it will buy ARC for 32.80 Canadian dollars per share, made up of 75% Shell stock and 25% cash—a 27% premium to ARC’s closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday.

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

ARC OF TRIUMPH, Paris, France.—This is the finest triumphal arch in existence.

From Shepp's Photographs of the World by James W. Shepp

No matter the strengths of AI, a chatbot cannot dream up stories with flawed characters and themes and arcs and failures and triumphs—with ambiguous finales.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 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

Kainene raised her eyebrows; they were penciled in, thin fluid arcs.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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

It arced over the Gulf of Mexico like the four Starships before it that ended up being destroyed, either soon after liftoff or while ditching into the sea.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2024

Lawrence's bending shot scuffed a post, while Barisic arced a dipping free-kick form 20 yards off the crossbar.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2023

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 living brothers caught their breath, as the stone arced up over the clouds.

From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman

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

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

A birthday party had just ended, and he was offered a piece of cake, chocolate with a jelly-bean rainbow arcing across the frosting.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025

That caused a short-circuit and "arcing" - electric sparks like those in a spark plug - which resulted in a "catastrophic failure".

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2025

But Edison said it had not found signs of arcing on the towers, contradicting the allegations made by firms suing the company.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2025

With its great black wings of spray, arcing above the rigging, it rose before them like an angel of death.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Related Words

• arch