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dipole

noun

Simple meaning

Any object that is oppositely charged at two points.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dypohl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdaɪpoʊl

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

    Any object (such as a magnet, polar molecule or antenna) that is oppositely charged at two points (or poles).

  2. chemistry

    Any molecule or radical that has delocalised positive and negative charges.

  3. radio

    A dipole antenna.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Any object (such as a magnet, polar molecule or antenna) that is oppositely charged at two points (or poles).

Used this way, dipole 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.

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.

Nearby words

  • dipole antenna , rarer, so it draws attention

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.

Object / pair

dipole momentmagnetic dipole

Other combinations

dipole antennainduced dipoledipole interactiondipole fieldpermanent dipoletransition dipole

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • dipole antennanounCompound term

    An aerial half a wavelength long consisting of two rods connected to a transmission line at the center.

  • dipole moleculenounCompound term

    A molecule that is a permanent dipole.

  • dipole momentnounCompound term

    The moment of a dipole.

  • electric dipolenounCompound term

    A dipole with equal and opposite electric charges.

  • electric dipole momentnounCompound term

    The dipole moment in an electric dipole.

  • magnetic dipolenounCompound term

    A dipole with opposing magnetic poles.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: any object (such as a magnet or polar molecule

dipole antennaRare

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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.