radiator

American  

[ray-dee-ay-ter] / ˈreɪ diˌeɪ tər /

noun

• radiators
  plural

1. a person or thing that radiates.

2. any of various heating devices, as a series or coil of pipes through which steam or hot water passes.

3. a device constructed from thin-walled tubes and metal fins, used for cooling circulating water, as in an automobile engine.

4. Radio. a transmitting antenna.

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radiator British  

/ ˈreɪdɪˌeɪtə /

noun

1. a device for heating a room, building, etc, consisting of a series of pipes through which hot water or steam passes

2. a device for cooling an internal-combustion engine, consisting of thin-walled tubes through which water passes. Heat is transferred from the water through the walls of the tubes to the airstream, which is created either by the motion of the vehicle or by a fan

3. an electric fire

4. electronics the part of an aerial or transmission line that radiates electromagnetic waves

5. an electric space heater

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radiator Scientific  

/ rā′dē-ā′tər /

1. A body that emits radiation. Radiators are commonly designed to transfer heat energy from one place to another, as in an automobile, in which the radiator cools the engine by transferring heat energy from the engine to the air, or in buildings, where radiators transfer heat energy from a furnace to the air and objects in the surrounding room.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• radiators
  plural

Etymology

Origin of radiator

First recorded in 1830–40; radiate + -or ²

Explanation

A room in an old house is often heated by a radiator, a metal device made up of pipes that circulate steam or hot water. If your house is heated with radiators, there will usually be one in each room, all connected to a central heating system. A radiator gets hot, and it sends that heat out into the room — in other words, it radiates heat. In fact, the word radiator originally meant "anything that radiates," including heat, light, or energy. By the 1850's, radiator had come to primarily mean "heater in a building or house."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

radiator radiators

The 61st floor, whose exterior features a tribute to the radiator caps of early Chrysler vehicles, is to be converted into a dining space with access to outdoor terraces.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

Many marmot problems appear to revolve around their appetite for salt, which they find on sweat-stained hiking poles and backpack straps as well as radiator fluid, said Blumstein, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

A Dyson swarm, by contrast, would consist of radiator panels rather than dust, giving it an unusually "clean" spectrum.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026

The outside air can be used to boil the refrigerant, allowing the cycle to repeat: the compressor squeezes it and makes it super-hot again, ready to heat more radiator water.

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026

Gelifen gave a soft peeping sound, and heat began to flow from him, hot and steady as a radiator.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

Instead, space-based data centers will have to use radiators that turn heat into waves of infrared light, which are then dispersed into deep space, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

Ban daytime heat indoors: Appliances are secret radiators.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026

These data centers, along with their solar panels and radiators, cannot be launched in one piece and would need to be assembled in space.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

Larger radiators and the gear that supports heat dissipation would add mass to each satellite, and big radiators can be pricey because they have more ways to break, according to Rao.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

I squished my soggy self down the hall as fast as I could, glad that there weren’t any radiators there.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt

Related Words

• boiler
• fastball
• furnace
• oven
• stove