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amplitude

noun

Simple meaning

The maximum displacement of a periodic wave.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ampluhtood

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈæmplətud

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. physics

    The maximum displacement of a periodic wave

    “Increasing the amplitude of the sound wave makes the tone louder.”

  2. mathematics

    The maximum absolute value of the vertical component of a curve or function, especially one that is periodic.

  3. physics

    The maximum absolute value of some quantity that varies.

  4. The measure of the size of something, especially its width or breadth; largeness, magnitude.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The maximum displacement of a periodic wave

Used this way, amplitude is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.

Heard in a sentence
“Increasing the amplitude of the sound wave makes the tone louder.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Science
  • Academic writing
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Natural pattern: amplitude of …

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Maximum

peak amplitudeconstant amplitude

Size

large amplitude

Other combinations

amplitude modulationsignal amplitudemaximum amplitudesmall amplitudewave amplitude

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • amplitude distortionnounCompound term

    Distortion that occurs when the output signal does not have a linear relation to the input signal.

  • amplitude levelnounCompound term

    The level on a scale of amplitude.

  • amplitude modulationnounCompound term

    Modulation of the amplitude of the (radio) carrier wave.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.