gravitational wave

American

noun

Astronomy, Physics.

(in general relativity) a propagating wave of gravitational energy produced by accelerating masses, especially during catastrophic events, as the gravitational collapse of massive stars.

gravitational wave British

noun

physics another name for gravity wave

"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

Etymology

Origin of gravitational wave

First recorded in 1895–1900

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.

They focused on 28 of the clearest gravitational wave events detected so far.

From Science Daily • May 19, 2026

According to the team's analysis, the pattern of that gravitational wave may contain evidence of an interaction with dark matter.

From Science Daily • May 19, 2026

Their approach improves the precision of earlier gravitational wave based techniques.

From Science Daily • Mar. 1, 2026

Each gravitational wave is named for the date it is detected, and the LIGO-VIRGO-KAGRA team publicly announced this one in September 2025.

From Science Daily • Feb. 1, 2026

New observations in the next few years, particularly by gravitational wave detectors like LIGO, should enable us to discover the origin of the gamma ray bursts.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking

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