gravitational wave

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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.

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Also called gravity wave.

Origin of gravitational wave

First recorded in 1895–1900

Words nearby gravitational wave

gravitational interaction, gravitational lens, gravitational mass, gravitational radius, gravitational redshift, gravitational wave, gravitative, gravitino, graviton, gravitropism, gravity

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use gravitational wave in a sentence

The gravitational waves produced by the merger took 7 billion years to reach us.
Readers ask about shrinking toads, defining distance in an expanding universe and more|Science News Staff|February 7, 2021|Science News
Beginning in the 1950s, when others were still arguing whether gravitational waves existed in reality, physicist Joseph Weber sunk his career into trying to detect them.
Einstein’s theory of general relativity unveiled a dynamic and bizarre cosmos|Elizabeth Quill|February 3, 2021|Science News
Peter and Sharon rented a house with a big avocado tree when they moved to California, in 2008, for Peter’s dream postdoc studying gravitational waves at CalTech.
The Climate Crisis Is Worse Than You Can Imagine. Here’s What Happens If You Try.|by Elizabeth Weil|January 25, 2021|ProPublica
The more distant a collision is from Earth, the longer it takes the gravitational waves to arrive.
Explore every gravitational wave event spotted so far|Nadieh Bremer|January 21, 2021|Science News

The main focus of my career has been the detection of gravitational waves.
Helping scientists succeed|Katie McLean|December 18, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Thus it attracted a wave of cowboy operators to fly passengers and cargo between cities.
Who Will Get AsiaAir 8501’s Black Boxes?|Clive Irving|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There have been previous waves of people moving to Texas, and we are now experiencing the latest wave.
Will Texas Stay Texan?|David Fontana|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The army has since conducted a brutal wave of jailings against activists and journalists.
Behind Bars for the Holidays: 11 Political Prisoners We Want to See Free In 2015|Movements.Org|December 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We prefer to wave away the warning signs; like The Interview, Mulholland Drive was comfortably downplayed as over-the-top satire.
Pyongyang Shuffle: Hollywood In Dead Panic Over Sony Hack|James Poulos|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
What are your feelings about the wave of support that always immediately presents itself from the other side?
The Unbearable Whiteness of Protesting|Rawiya Kameir, Judnick Mayard|December 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But to wave this discourse of Heathens, how many self-contradicting principles are there held among Christians?
The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801)|Daniel Defoe
The wave-like movement of these animals is particularly graceful and cleverly done.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
While you were admiring the long roll of the wave, a sudden spray would be dashed over you, and make you catch your breath!
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
"Yes," said Punch, lifted up in his father's arms to wave good-bye.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
"I've brought ye thet Injun I wuz tellin' ye uv," she said, with a wave of her hand toward Alessandro.
Ramona|Helen Hunt Jackson

British Dictionary definitions for gravitational wave

gravitational wave

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