compression wave

Or compressional wave

noun

1. a shock wave that compresses the medium through which it is transmitted.

Word History and Origins

Origin of compression wave¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

My throat clamped up, a compression wave that traveled down my chest and into my stomach.

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He even had some prescient hunches about the mechanism of blast’s effects: the compression wave, the concussion and the toxic gases.

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It’s referred to as a compression wave.

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The rocket, traveling faster than sound, set up a compression wave which bounced from the point of strike and hit the ear a split second before the terrific crump as the explosive let go�just time enough to flex a forearm across the face against the inevitable gale of glass and rubble fragments.

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He knew the compression wave caused by his movement would warn all living creatures.

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