voltaic
adjective
noting or pertaining to electricity or electric currents, especially when produced by chemical action, as in a cell; galvanic.
voltaic
1 American
[vol-tay-ik, vohl-]
/ vɒlˈteɪ ɪk, voʊl- /
adjective
-
Electricity. noting or pertaining to electricity or electric currents, especially when produced by chemical action, as in a cell; galvanic.
-
(initial capital letter) of or relating to Alessandro Volta.
Voltaic
2
American
[vol-tay-ik]
/ vɒlˈteɪ ɪk /
noun
Voltaic
1
British
/ vɒlˈteɪɪk /
adjective
-
of or relating to Burkina Faso, formerly known as Upper Volta
-
denoting, belonging to, or relating to the Gur group of African languages
noun
voltaic
2
British
/ vɒlˈteɪɪk /
adjective
Etymology
Origin of voltaic1
1805–15; after A. Volta; see -ic
Origin of Voltaic2
First recorded in 1935–40; Volta ( def. 2 ) + -ic ( def. 1 )
Explanation
Voltaic describes a chemical reaction that results in electrical energy. Batteries are the most common voltaic devices. While the adjective voltaic specifically refers to the chemical process that occurs in a battery, it's often used to mean simply "relating to electricity." You might notice the word's similarity to volt, a basic unit of electricity. The two words share a root, Volta, the last name of the Italian physicist who invented the electric battery in 1800.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
His system uses the same mechanism as the voltaic pile, the world's first electrical battery giving a continuous current invented in 1799 by Alessandro Volta.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
This approach is called agrivoltaics — a portmanteau of agriculture and voltaic cells, which transform solar power to electrical power.
From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2022
“I have just completed a curious voltaic pile which I think you would like to see,” he wrote.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 29, 2017
A battery is a multiple connection of voltaic cells, as shown in Figure 21.18.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
A great variety of useful voltaic batteries have since been devised by others, too numerous to be mentioned here.
From Inventions in the Century by William Henry Doolittle
The South African Photo Voltaic Industry Association says capital expenditure and component inflation have risen by up to 40% for solar projects since companies locked in tariffs last August.
From Reuters ● Jul. 21, 2022
The images, blown up larger than their original print sizes, show Fula, Malian and Voltaic teenagers and twentysomethings posing and wielding props in a studio decorated with backdrops painted by artists from Ghana.
From New York Times ● May 31, 2018
His lobbyists were less successful in the Voltaic Republic, though they had recently sent a truckload of wedding gifts to the emperor of the country's Mossi tribe.
From Time Magazine Archive
Along with Senegal, Dahomey and the Voltaic Republic, the French Sudan completed the formation of the Mali Federation -an area of 680,000 square miles and 10 million people, with headquarters in Dakar.
From Time Magazine Archive
The space between them is filled with a blue flame which, being usually bent by the earth's magnetism, receives the name of the Voltaic Arc.
From Fragments of science, V. 1-2 by John Tyndall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
