lambda

[ lam-duh ]

/ ˈlæm də /

noun

the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet (Λ, λ).

the consonant sound represented by this letter.

Words nearby lambda

lamb's-quarters, lambada, lambaréné, lambast, lambaste, lambda, lambda calculus, lambda particle, lambda point, lambda-b baryon, lambda-b particle

Origin of lambda

< Greek lá(m)bda < Semitic; see lamed

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for lambda

It was also smart politics, said another former leader of Lambda, Adam R. Sorkin, now an attorney in Chicago.
What Really Happened at Harvard|Samuel P. Jacobs|May 10, 2010|DAILY BEAST
The first Lambda chapter was created at UCLA in 1981 and today there are at least 48 active chapters.
The New Animal Houses|Dan Haley|March 22, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Kenny Luong died trying to start a Lambda Phi Epsilon chapter at California State Polytechnical University in Pomona, Calif.
The New Animal Houses|Dan Haley|March 22, 2009|DAILY BEAST
When students want to start a new Lambda chapter, they learn the rules from a nearby campus.
The New Animal Houses|Dan Haley|March 22, 2009|DAILY BEAST

Bryan, a Lambda from Rutgers University, said he believes he benefited from the pledge process.
The New Animal Houses|Dan Haley|March 22, 2009|DAILY BEAST
They Lambda Chied us till they became sick of it, and all our attempts to get even proved failures.
Frank Merriwell at Yale|Burt L. Standish
Another annular nebula is that situated to the south-west of Lambda Scorpii.
Aether and Gravitation|William George Hooper
Pions and muons, plus and minus; the lambda and the antilambda.
A Feast of Demons|William Morrison
Originally the suture must have terminated on the posterior border of the parietal bone, not far from the lambda.
A Bilateral Division of the Parietal Bone in a Chimpanzee; with a Special Reference to the Oblique Sutures in the Parietal|Ales Hrdlicka
The second lambda is inserted in order to avoid the ill-omened sound of destruction.
Cratylus|Plato

British Dictionary definitions for lambda

lambda

/ (ˈlæmdə) /

noun

the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet (Λ, λ), a consonant transliterated as l

Word Origin for lambda

C14: from Greek, from Semitic; related to lamed

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

Medical definitions for lambda

lambda

[ lăm′də ]

n.

The 11th letter of the Greek alphabet.

The craniometric point at the junction of the sagittal and lambdoid sutures.

adj.

Of, relating to, or characterizing a polypeptide chain that is one of two types of light chains present in immunoglobins.