array
[uh-rey]
- to place in proper or desired order; marshal: Napoleon arrayed his troops for battle.
- to clothe with garments, especially of an ornamental kind; dress up; deck out: She arrayed herself in furs and diamonds.
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- order or arrangement, as of troops drawn up for battle.
- military force, especially a body of troops.
- a large and impressive grouping or organization of things: He couldn't dismiss the array of facts.
- regular order or arrangement; series: an array of figures.
- a large group, number, or quantity of people or things: an impressive array of scholars; an imposing array of books.
- attire; dress: in fine array.
- an arrangement of interrelated objects or items of equipment for accomplishing a particular task: thousands of solar cells in one vast array.
- Mathematics, Statistics.
- an arrangement of a series of terms according to value, as from largest to smallest.
- an arrangement of a series of terms in some geometric pattern, as in a matrix.
- Computers. a block of related data elements, each of which is usually identified by one or more subscripts.
- Radio. antenna array.
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Origin of array
1250–1300; Middle English arrayen < Anglo-French arayer, Old French are(y)er < Germanic; compare Old English ārǣdan to prepare, equivalent to ā- a-3 + ræde ready
Synonyms
See more synonyms for array on Thesaurus.com1. arrange, range, order, dispose. 2. apparel, dress, attire; ornament, adorn, decorate. 3. disposition. 5. show, exhibit, exhibition. 8. raiment.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for array
Contemporary Examples
Today, the Republicans can call upon an array of minority senators, governors, and congressmen.
Still more keys engage an array of other sounds, from snare drums and cymbals to awooga horns and sirens.
The bar had brought together an array of people united by a desire to settle into a home away from home with a drink in hand.
Sure, there is an array of “self-help” guides available in the world.
And whether their preferred candidate wins or loses, they have a right to demand from their representative an array of services.
Historical Examples
They set the battle in array, they uttered cries of defiance.
The Babylonian Legends of the CreationBritish Museum
Howbeit, what an array of Masters and Knights have we, and what a variety!
The Book of KhalidAmeen Rihani
Its pathos, its humor, and its array of natural incidents are all satisfying.
Dreamers of the GhettoI. Zangwill
What means that array of bottles, cups, saucers, and glasses on the chair at my head?
Oswald LangdonCarson Jay Lee
Along the shelves stretched an array of bottles with liqueurs of every color.
Mayflower (Flor de mayo)Vicente Blasco Ibez
array
- an impressive display or collection
- an orderly or regular arrangement, esp of troops in battle order
- poetic rich clothing; apparel
- maths a sequence of numbers or symbols in a specified order
- maths a set of numbers or symbols arranged in rows and columns, as in a determinant or matrix
- electronics an arrangement of aerials spaced to give desired directional characteristics, used esp in radar
- law a panel of jurors
- the arming of military forces
- computing a regular data structure in which individual elements may be located by reference to one or more integer index variables, the number of such indices being the number of dimensions in the array
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- to dress in rich attire; adorn
- to arrange in order (esp troops for battle); marshal
- law to draw up (a panel of jurors)
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French aroi arrangement, from arayer to arrange, of Germanic origin; compare Old English arǣdan to make ready
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for array
v.
early 14c., from stem of Old French areer "to put in order," from Vulgar Latin *ar-redare (source of Italian arredare), from Latin ad- "to" (see ad-) + Frankish *ræd- "ready" or some cognate Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *raidjan "to place in order" (cf. Gothic garadis, Old English geræde "ready;" see ready (adj.)). Related: Arrayed; arraying.
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n.
mid-14c., "order, arrangement," from Anglo-French arrai, Old French aroi, from areer (see array (v.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
array
[ə-rā′]
- Mathematics A rectangular arrangement of quantities in rows and columns, as in a matrix.
- Numerical data ordered in a linear fashion, by magnitude.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.