wavefront

British

/ ˈweɪvˌfrʌnt /

noun

physics a surface associated with a propagating wave and passing through all points in the wave that have the same phase. It is usually perpendicular to the direction of propagation

"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

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.

The photonic lantern divides the incoming light into multiple channels based on how the light wavefront is shaped, much like separating the notes of a musical chord.

From Science Daily • Oct. 25, 2025

"Even with adaptive optics, the photonic lantern was so sensitive to the wavefront fluctuations that I had to develop a new data processing technique to filter out the remaining atmospheric turbulence."

From Science Daily • Oct. 25, 2025

First, a wavefront of ions races across the transistor.

From Science Daily • Apr. 30, 2024

The new wavefront is a line tangent to all of the wavelets.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

The new wavefront is a line tangent to the wavelets and is where we would expect the wave to be a time t later.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023