television

[ tel-uh-vizh-uh n ]

/ ˈtɛl əˌvɪʒ ən /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR television ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the transmission of programming, in the form of still or moving images, via radio waves, cable wires, satellite, or wireless network to a receiver or other screen.

the process or product involved: to watch television.

an electronic device or set for receiving television broadcasts or similar programming.

the field of television broadcasting, or similar transmission of programming.

Nearby words

Origin of television

First recorded in 1905–10; tele-¹ + vision

Also called TV.

Related formstel·e·vi·sion·al

[tel-uh-vizh-uh-nl] /ˌtɛl əˈvɪʒ ə nl/, adjectivetel·e·vi·sion·al·ly, adverbtel·e·vi·sion·ar·y

[tel-uh-vizh-uh-ner-ee] /ˌtɛl əˈvɪʒ əˌnɛr i/, adjectivepre·tel·e·vi·sion, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for television

The last film about Martin Luther King was made for television in 1977.
Dr. King Goes to Hollywood: The Flawed History of ‘Selma’|Gary May|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The television networks interrupt their broadcasts to take the nation directly to Selma.
Dr. King Goes to Hollywood: The Flawed History of ‘Selma’|Gary May|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
He appears frequently on television as a political commentator.
Will Dirty Pol Vito Fossella Replace Dirty Pol Michael Grimm?|David Freedlander|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It is impossible to calculate the full effect that watching this on television, listening on the radio must have had on Sam.
How Martin Luther King Jr. Influenced Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’|Peter Guralnick|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST

But in a television landscape still so afraid of showing kids that LGBT people exist, it still feels like a missed opportunity.
Yep, Korra and Asami Went in the Spirit Portal and Probably Kissed|Melissa Leon|December 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When you were on television, what was shown is that you were talking to the policeman?
Warren Commission (11 of 26): Hearings Vol. XI (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
There is no radio or television, the motor car is no more than a plaything for the rich.
Tartarin de Tarascon|Alphonse Daudet
Every eye, ear, radio and television station will be turned towards Manhattan.
"To Invade New York...."|Irwin Lewis
I mean that is what burned me up more than anything, more than any other statement on television when I saw it.
Warren Commission (5 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
In a few days Dad and the Martians were communicating by a sort of television process.
Astounding Stories, July, 1931|Various

British Dictionary definitions for television

television

/ (ˈtɛlɪˌvɪʒən) /

noun

the system or process of producing on a distant screen a series of transient visible images, usually with an accompanying sound signal. Electrical signals, converted from optical images by a camera tube, are transmitted by UHF or VHF radio waves or by cable and reconverted into optical images by means of a television tube inside a television set

Also called: television set a device designed to receive and convert incoming electrical signals into a series of visible images on a screen together with accompanying sound

the content, etc, of television programmes

the occupation or profession concerned with any aspect of the broadcasting of television programmeshe's in television

(modifier) of, relating to, or used in the transmission or reception of video and audio UHF or VHF radio signalsa television transmitter

Abbreviation: TV

Derived Formstelevisional, adjectivetelevisionally, adverbtelevisionary, adjective

Word Origin for television

C20: from tele- + vision

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

Word Origin and History for television

television

1907, "the action of seeing by means of Hertzian waves or otherwise, what is existing or happening at a place concealed or distant from the observer's eyes" [OED]; in theoretical discussions about sending images by radio transmission, formed in English or borrowed from French télévision, from tele- + vision. Other proposals for the name of this then-hypothetical technology were telephote (1880) and televista (1904). The technology was developed in the 1920s and '30s. Nativized in German as Fernsehen.

Television is the first truly democratic culture -- the first culture available to everyone and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want. [Clive Barnes, "New York Times," Dec. 30, 1969]

Meaning "a television set" is from 1955. Shortened form TV is from 1948.

television

noun

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Origin of television

Examples from the Web for television

television

noun

Word Origin for television

television