reference frame

American  

noun

Physics.

1. frame of reference.

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reference frame Scientific  

/ rĕf′ər-əns /

1. A basis of a four-dimensional coordinate system in which the first coordinate is understood as a time coordinate, while the other three coordinates represent spatial dimensions. Inertial frames and non-inertial frames are both examples of reference frames.

2. Also called frame of reference

3. See also General Relativity space-time Special Relativity

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Etymology

Origin of reference frame

First recorded in 1920–25

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reference frame

Although GPS satellites are U.S.-owned military hardware, the reference frame relies on an international patchwork of aging radio-telescopes staring at quasars, laser-ranging stations and physical ground markers anchored to shifting tectonic plates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Businesses that depend on precise positioning—construction, agriculture, logistics, anything autonomous—should be asking which reference frame their data fit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

In the electron's reference frame, the laser intensity appeared to be about 50% of the Schwinger limit, triggering nonlinear QED phenomena.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024

However, the notion of continental groupings as a meaningful reference frame for understanding human biological variation persisted.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 22, 2022

At the proper instant I shifted again, to the reference frame of this Galaxy itself.

From Upstarts by Leo Dillon

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