Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

megahertz

American  
[meg-uh-hurts] / ˈmɛg əˌhɜrts /

noun

Electricity.
  • megahertz,
    plural
  • megahertzes
    plural
  1. a unit of frequency, equal to one million cycles per second. MHz


megahertz British  
/ ˈmɛɡəˌhɜːts /

noun

  1.  MHz.  Former name: megacycle.  one million hertz; one million cycles per second

"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

megahertz Scientific  
/ mĕgə-hûrts′ /
  1. A unit of frequency equal to one million cycles per second, or one million hertz.


megahertz Cultural  
  1. One million cycles per second. Often used to indicate computer processing speed.


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of megahertz

First recorded in 1940–45; mega- + hertz

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.

See Examples For:

It got access to those 20 megahertz of spectrum, which it badly needed to shore up its commercial network.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 1, 2026

“Particularly the 68 megahertz of global mobile satellite services L-Band spectrum…in an environment where Direct-to-Device constellations are garnering significant attention and investment,” he wrote.

From Barron's Nov. 10, 2025

Central to this innovation is the ytterbium thin-disk laser, which produces high-power, femtosecond pulses at megahertz repetition rates.

From Science Daily Nov. 18, 2024

The National Telecommunications Information Administration will perform a two-year study on how to possibly repurpose 2,786 megahertz of spectrum, which could be used for wireless broadband, drones, and satellites.

From Washington Times Nov. 13, 2023

A mere 386SX running at 20 megahertz and comparatively low resolution VGA color graphics.

From Terminal Compromise: computer terrorism: when privacy and freedom are the victims: a novel by Winn Schwartau

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training