microphone

[mahy-kruh-fohn]

noun

1. an instrument capable of transforming sound waves into changes in electric currents or voltage, used in recording or transmitting sound.

microphone

/ ˈmaɪkrəˌfəʊn /

noun

1. Informal name: mike. a device used in sound-reproduction systems for converting sound into electrical energy, usually by means of a ribbon or diaphragm set into motion by the sound waves. The vibrations are converted into the equivalent audio-frequency electric currents See also carbon microphone Compare loudspeaker

Word History and Origins

Origin of microphone¹

1875–80; micro-, in sense “enlarging” (extracted from microscope ) + -phone

Example Sentences

No studio, no humans at the microphone, not even a recording -- yet out comes a lively podcast, banter and all.

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He cut the vice president’s microphone and threw to commercial over Vance’s continued objections.

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A 15-year-old girl came to the microphone and said the rec center was where she learned to ride a bike and where her brothers played Saturday basketball games.

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People don’t love women in front of a microphone so that right there.

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The PTC also spoke out against media consolidation, which accelerated in the 1990s, “the problem of having too few voices hold the microphone,” Winter said.

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Related Words

• mic 
• mike