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

And middlemen who deal in goods from Asian factories aren’t always willing to disclose what it really costs to make a sofa or microwave oven.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 28, 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

Before bed beckons Saturday night, rewind the clock on the microwave, oven, car, or any other device not yet clever enough to make the leap on its own.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 2, 2023

Those safeguards, however, have not changed since 1996, and they focus exclusively on the unlikely prospect of "thermal" harm: the potential for overheating body tissue, as a microwave oven would.

From Salon ● Jan. 20, 2023

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

From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz

Related Words

• kiln
• microwave
• stove