phasor

[fey-zer]

noun

Physics.

1. a vector that represents a sinusoidally varying quantity, as a current or voltage, by means of a line rotating about a point in a plane, the magnitude of the quantity being proportional to the length of the line and the phase of the quantity being equal to the angle between the line and a reference line.

phasor

/ ˈfeɪzɔː /

noun

1. electrical engineering a rotating vector representing a quantity, such as an alternating current or voltage, that varies sinusoidally

Word History and Origins

Origin of phasor¹

First recorded in 1940–45; phase + (vect)or

Example Sentences

Known for songs like “Gemini and Leo” and “Lotta Love,” Helado Negro released the critically acclaimed LP “Phasor” in early 2024.

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Dominic Philpott, chief operating officer of Hanwha Phasor – a UK-based satellite relay firm now purchased by South Korean conglomerate Hanwha that serves both civilian and government clients – noted several shifts.

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By letting engineers monitor the flow of power between the country’s three grids — one for the East, one for the West, and another just for Texas — the phasor units should give them enough time to identify and correct the sort of imbalance that sparked the 2003 blackout.

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To prevent a repeat episode, engineers are installing 1,000 instruments called phasor measurement units that track the rhythm of currents across different points on the country’s power grids.

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Phasor measurement units work by measuring the rhythm of current at different points on the power grid.

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