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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

“It was so beautiful,” says Domingo of the conclusion of his arc.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

The shadow cast when the Moon blots out the Sun will begin in Russia's remote Arctic north at around 1700 GMT and continue in an arc over Greenland and Iceland.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

At its peak - weather permitting - only an arc of the Sun will be seen.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

“We read to find better ways of being ourselves, and that arc really exemplifies it.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Unfortunately, whenever he pulled up his shoulders, his round belly popped out in a comical arc.

From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich

The group last week announced it would acquire Canadian company ARC Resources in a $16.4-billion purchase to boost its access to shale gas and liquids production.

From Barron's ● May 7, 2026

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

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 27, 2026

Last year, ARC reported production of 374,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, before royalty burdens.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026

The ARC funding is part of a broader effort to study human origins.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 22, 2026

THE ARC DE L'ETOILE.—The triumphal arch bears many scars, but none of them of much importance.

From Paris under the Commune The Seventy-Three Days of the Second Siege; with Numerous Illustrations, Sketches Taken on the Spot, and Portraits (from the Original Photographs) by John Leighton

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

The findings improve scientists' understanding of gold-rich deposits associated with intra-oceanic island arcs such as the Kermadec Arc.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

Scenes animated in hand-drawn style are designed to bring Bonnie’s imagination to life, recreating the vivid magic of designing entire stories and character arcs for toys during playtime.

From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026

These connections, which drape themselves from the limbs of one tree to the limbs of another, violate the neatly nested, branch-within-branch geometry of a tree.2 I’ll call them arcs of coherence.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

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

But as the sound of his melancholy horn arced through a sweltering Pasadena afternoon, one couldn’t help but be grateful to still have him here playing, even after losing everything.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2025

Bath were shocked as Ramm powered through a gap between defenders and arced away from the covering Bailey to score the home side's third try in fewer than 15 minutes.

From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2025

Experts who watched videos showing downed power lines agreed wire that was insulated would not have arced and sparked, igniting a line of flame.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 26, 2023

He arced his hand through the air like a banner headline.

From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon

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

The delivery to get Rahul was an arcing inswinger, the appeal turned down on the field, then overturned by the replay.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2025

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

It appears only for a second before it’s gone again—a streak of white, like lightning arcing across the ocean floor.

From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston

Related Words

• arch