radar

[ rey-dahr ]
See synonyms for radar on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Electronics. a device for determining the presence and location of an object by measuring the time for the echo of a radio wave to return from it and the direction from which it returns.

  2. a means or sense of awareness or perception: lobbyists working under the media's radar.

Origin of radar

1
1940–45, Americanism;ra(dio)d(etecting)a(nd)r(anging)

Other words from radar

  • an·ti·ra·dar, noun, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use radar in a sentence

  • Lockley tried to get Vale back, to tell him that radars had verified his report and that it would be acted on by the military.

    Operation Terror | William Fitzgerald Jenkins
  • Two radars reported tracking the thing down to a landing near you.

    Operation Terror | William Fitzgerald Jenkins
  • Of course radars spotted the Med Ship as an object, but nobody paid attention.

    Pariah Planet | Murray Leinster
  • For Rapid Dominance, radars and other active sensors must operate with low probability of intercept.

    Shock and Awe | Harlan K. Ullman
  • Baird listened, checking the orders against what the situation was as the radars saw it.

    The Aliens | Murray Leinster

British Dictionary definitions for radar

radar

/ (ˈreɪdɑː) /


noun
  1. a method for detecting the position and velocity of a distant object, such as an aircraft A narrow beam of extremely high-frequency radio pulses is transmitted and reflected by the object back to the transmitter, the signal being displayed on a radarscope. The direction of the reflected beam and the time between transmission and reception of a pulse determine the position of the object: Former name: radiolocation

  2. the equipment used in such detection

Origin of radar

1
C20 ra (dio) d (etecting) a (nd) r (anging)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for radar

radar

[ där ]


  1. A method of detecting distant objects and determining their position, speed, material composition, or other characteristics by causing radio waves to be reflected from them and analyzing the reflected waves. The waves can be converted into images, as for use on weather maps.

  2. The equipment used in such detecting. See also Doppler effect lidar sonar.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for radar

radar

A method of finding the position and velocity of an object by bouncing a radio wave off it and analyzing the reflected wave. Radar is an acronym for radio detection and ranging.

Notes for radar

Police use radar techniques to determine the speed of automobiles.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.