definitions

ARPANET

[ är′pə-nĕt ]

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.

RELATED WORDS

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

Culture 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.

Note

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

Note

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.