microwave oven

American  

noun

• microwave ovens
  plural

1. an electrically operated oven using high-frequency electromagnetic waves that penetrate food, causing its molecules to vibrate and generating heat within the food to cook it in a very short time.

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microwave oven British  

noun

1. Often shortened to: micro.   microwave.  an oven in which food is cooked by microwaves

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• microwave ovens
  plural

Etymology

Origin of microwave oven

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

microwave oven

"A stellarator is a thing that is objectively very difficult to design, objectively very difficult to build. But if you do it, it is a dumb machine... just like a microwave oven," says Sciortino.

From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026

On a December day at an appliance store in New Delhi, Manish Sharma, an engineer at a domestic telecommunications company, bought a premium $600 microwave oven as a wedding gift for his younger brother.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

"These are electromagnetic rays in the range of around one hundred to several thousand gigahertz, comparable to the radiation of a cell phone or a microwave oven -- but with a significantly higher frequency."

From Science Daily ● Mar. 18, 2024

“What do they have in their dorms or apartments? A lot of times it’s just microwave, oven, maybe stovetop,” she explained.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 3, 2023

It was like traveling in a tumble dryer and microwave oven combined.

From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz

Related Words

• kiln
• microwave
• stove