ARPANET

or AR·PA·net

[ ahr-puh-net ]

nounComputers.
  1. Advanced Research Projects Agency Network: a network of computers, developed by the U.S. Department of Defense in the 1960s, that pioneered data transfer in packets and the Internet Protocol; a precursor to the internet.

Origin of ARPANET

1
First recorded in 1970–75

usage note For ARPANET

See internet.

Words Nearby ARPANET

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

Scientific definitions for ARPANET

ARPANET

[ ärpə-nĕt ]


  1. A computer network developed by the Advanced Research Project Agency (now the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency) in the 1960s and 1970s as a means of communication between research laboratories and universities. ARPANET was the predecessor to the Internet.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for Arpanet

Arpanet

An acronym for Advanced Research Project Agency Network. An early communications network developed by the Department of Defense in the late 1960s. It connected high-tech research institutions and the military.

Notes for Arpanet

Creating a communications system that could survive a nuclear war was a major impetus behind the development of this system.

Notes for Arpanet

Arpanet is often spoken of as a precursor of the Internet.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.