heterodyne

American  

[het-er-uh-dahyn] / ˈhɛt ər əˌdaɪn /

adjective

1. noting or pertaining to a method of changing the frequency of an incoming radio signal by adding it to a signal generated within the receiver to produce fluctuations or beats of a frequency equal to the difference between the two signals.

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verb (used without object)

heterodyned, heterodyning

1. to produce a heterodyne effect.

verb (used with object)

heterodyned, heterodyning

1. to mix (a frequency) with a different frequency so as to achieve a heterodyne effect.

heterodyne British  

/ ˈhɛtərəʊˌdaɪn /

verb

1. electronics to combine by intermodulation (two alternating signals, esp radio signals) to produce two signals having frequencies corresponding to the sum and the difference of the original frequencies See also superheterodyne receiver

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adjective

1. produced by, operating by, or involved in heterodyning two signals

Etymology

Origin of heterodyne

1905–10; hetero- + -dyne < Greek dýnamis power

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

heterodyne heterodyned heterodyning

The team created a fully tunable heterodyne receiver, a key component for CV-QKD and CV-QRNG, by writing the optical circuit directly inside borosilicate glass.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 24, 2026

M.B. and J.F. provided the DFB QCLs for the heterodyne experiment.

From Nature ● Mar. 25, 2018

Stangier, T., Sonnabend, G. & Sornig, M. Compact setup of a tunable heterodyne spectrometer for infrared observations of atmospheric trace-gases.

From Nature ● Mar. 25, 2018

A.M. and D.G. helped with the heterodyne measurements.

From Nature ● Mar. 25, 2018

One of the operators was E. Howard Armstrong inventor of the regenerative detector, super-regeneration and the supersonic heterodyne receiver, though the French claim that the superhet was first designed by Lucien Levy of Paris.

From The Dawn of Amateur Radio in the U.K. and Greece: a personal view by Joly, Norman F.

They must then be reflected from the object seen, must be gathered together, again heterodyned upon the fifth-order carrier, and retransmitted back to us.

From Skylark Three by Wessolowski, Hans Waldemar

There it is heterodyned with another wave—this second frequency was found after thousands of trials and is, I believe, the exact frequency existing in the optic nerves themselves—and sent to the receiving headset.

From Skylark Three by Wessolowski, Hans Waldemar

No, they won't hear us, because I haven't heterodyned the audio in on the wave yet.

From Skylark Three by Wessolowski, Hans Waldemar

There was a half-forgotten tingling as the weak field heterodyned his thought waves.

From The Lani People by Bone, Jesse F. (Jesse Franklin)

You folks can see just as well, even on the direct-vision wall plates, with light heterodyned on the fifth, so we'll close all ether bands, absolutely.

From Skylark Three by Wessolowski, Hans Waldemar

It is a synthetic element, built up, through a complicated heterodyning of ultronic pulsations, from "infra-balanced" sub-ionic forms.

From Armageddon—2419 A.D. by Nowlan, Philip Francis

It is a heterodyning of one frequency upon another at a predetermined distance.

From Invasion by Leinster, Murray

Our heterodyne or "radio-scrambling" broadcast had gone into operation, emitting impulses of constantly varying wave-length over the full broadcast range and heterodyning the Han communications into futility.

From The Airlords of Han by Paul, Frank R.

The heterodyning of extremely saw-toothed waves produced peaks of energy until the saw-teeth began to smooth out.

From Operation Terror by Leinster, Murray