lambda

[lam-duh]

noun

the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet (Λ, λ).
the consonant sound represented by this letter.

Origin of lambda

< Greek lá(m)bda < Semitic; see lamed

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for lambda

Contemporary Examples of 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
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
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
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
Bryan, a Lambda from Rutgers University, said he believes he benefited from the pledge process.
The New Animal Houses
Dan Haley
March 22, 2009

Historical Examples of lambda

The second lambda is inserted in order to avoid the ill-omened sound of destruction.
Cratylus
Plato
Pions and muons, plus and minus; the lambda and the antilambda.
A Feast of Demons
William Morrison
Giving the lambda a fillip with my finger, I turned it upside down.
Devil Stories
Various
Another annular nebula is that situated to the south-west of Lambda Scorpii.
Aether and Gravitation
William George Hooper
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

British Dictionary definitions for lambda

lambda

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

Word Origin and History for lambda

Greek letter name, from a Semitic source akin to Hebrew lamedh.

lambda in Medicine

lambda

[lăm′də]

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.