binary system
Americannoun
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a system involving only two elements, as 0 and 1 or yes and no.
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Mathematics. a system of counting or measurement whose units are powers of two.
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Astronomy. binary star.
Etymology
Origin of binary system
First recorded in 1825–35
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.
The two asteroids orbit a shared center of mass in what scientists call a binary system.
From Science Daily • Mar. 9, 2026
Though he takes a minute to upbraid her, they’re obviously the show’s binary system, and Decker is in any case a cheery sort who takes things in stride — even prison, seemingly.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 3, 2026
A nova happens in a close binary system when a white dwarf, the dense leftover core of a star, pulls gas from a nearby companion.
From Science Daily • Dec. 31, 2025
This strange new world orbits around two stars at once, which dance around each other in what astronomers call a binary system.
From Space Scoop • May 6, 2025
It is a binary system, the component bodies revolving around their common centre of gravity in a period of about two hundred years.
From Astronomy of To-day A Popular Introduction in Non-Technical Language by Dolmage, Cecil Goodrich Julius
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
