wave theory
Also called undulatory theory. Physics. the theory that light is transmitted as a wave, similar to oscillations in magnetic and electric fields.: Compare corpuscular theory.
Historical Linguistics. a theory that accounts for shared features among languages or dialects by identifying these features as innovations that spread from their points of origin to the speech of contiguous areas.
Origin of wave theory
1- Compare family-tree theory.
Words Nearby wave theory
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use wave theory in a sentence
The interference of light is one of the phenomena for which the wave theory offers the only satisfactory explanation.
Physics | Willis Eugene TowerIn optics, he developed the wave theory, and his name is associated with the simple dispersion formula.
Likewise, he first proposed the wave theory of light; although it was Huygens who established it on its present foundation.
A History of Science, Volume 2(of 5) | Henry Smith WilliamsHuyghens sought to account for this phenomenon on the principles of the wave theory, and he succeeded in doing so.
Six Lectures on Light | John TyndallAs stated at the time, this discovery ushered in the darkest hour in the fortunes of the wave theory.
Six Lectures on Light | John Tyndall
British Dictionary definitions for wave theory
the theory proposed by Huygens that light is transmitted by waves
any theory that light or other radiation is transmitted as waves: See electromagnetic wave
- Compare corpuscular theory
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
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