ARPANET

or AR·PA·net

[ ahr-puh-net ]

noun

, Computers.

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.

ARPANET

/ är′pə-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.

Arpanet

1. An acronym for A dvanced R esearch P roject A gency Net work. An early communications network developed by the Department of Defense in the late 1960s. It connected high-tech research institutions and the military.

Spelling Note

See internet.

Notes

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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of ARPANET¹

First recorded in 1970–75