carrier wave

British

noun

radio a wave of fixed amplitude and frequency that is modulated in amplitude, frequency, or phase in order to carry a signal in radio transmission, etc See amplitude modulation frequency modulation

"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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This is done by varying the amplitude of the carrier wave in accordance with the frequency of the audio signal.

From Science Daily • Nov. 25, 2024

The researchers couple their resonating circuit to a second, higher frequency circuit, so that, much as in AM radio, any dark matter signal would make the amplitude of the higher frequency carrier wave warble.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 27, 2022

Lightwave electronics3—the foundation of attosecond science4—uses the oscillating carrier wave of intense light pulses to control the translational motion of the electron’s charge faster than a single cycle of light5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15.

From Nature • May 1, 2018

A carrier wave having the basic frequency of the radio station, say 1530 kHz, is varied or modulated in amplitude by an audio signal.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

Therefore the carrier wave must have come through our whole system of screens without so much as giving an alarm.

From Skylark Three by Wessolowski, Hans Waldemar

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023