superheterodyne

American  

[soo-per-het-er-uh-dahyn] / ˌsu pərˈhɛt ər əˌdaɪn /

adjective

1. denoting, pertaining to, or using a method of processing received radio or video signals in which an incoming modulated wave is changed by the heterodyne process into a lower-frequency wave and then subjected to amplification and subsequent detection.

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noun

1. a superheterodyne receiver.

Etymology

Origin of superheterodyne

First recorded in 1920–25; super(sonic) + heterodyne

Example Sentences

Without the "feedback circuit," used in transmitting and receiving alike, necessary to transAtlantic telephony, to superheterodyne receiving sets, no commercial radio company could operate.

From Time Magazine Archive

Unusual for an antique show was a booth rented by the National Radio Museum, which considered radio sufficiently venerable to present for antiquarian inspection several primitive receiving sets and the first superheterodyne sold for broadcasting.

From Time Magazine Archive

Edwin Howard Armstrong, bald, blue-eyed, well-heeled professor of electrical engineering at Columbia University, has made a tidy fortune for himself by inventing the super-regenerative and superheterodyne radio circuits.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ten-tube, all-wave, superheterodyne, with fancy gadrooned moldings and a two-tone walnut cabinet.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr