VocabauraVOCABAURA

frequency

noun

Simple meaning

The rate of occurrence of anything.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

freekwuhnsee

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfɹikwənsi

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. uncountable or countable

    The rate of occurrence of anything; the relationship between incidence and time period.

  2. countable

    The quotient of the number of times n a periodic phenomenon occurs over the time t in which it occurs: f=n/t.

  3. uncountable

    The property of occurring often rather than infrequently.

  4. A tone, character, mood, or vibe

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (uncountable or countable) The rate of occurrence of anything; the relationship between incidence and time period.

Used this way, frequency is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in relationships contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Relationships

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

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “frequency”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Rate / number

frequency distributionrelative frequency

Property

high frequencylow frequency

Range

radio frequency

Other combinations

frequency responsenatural frequencyfrequency domain

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • frequency distributionnounCompound term

    A distribution of observed frequencies of occurrence of the values of a variable.

  • frequency modulationnounCompound term

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

  • frequency responsenounCompound term

    A curve representing the output-to-input ratio of a transducer as a function of frequency.

  • frequency-response characteristicnounCompound term

    A graph of frequency response with signal amplitude or gain plotted against frequency.

  • frequency-response curvenounCompound term

    A graph of frequency response with signal amplitude or gain plotted against frequency.

  • frequency bandnounCompound term

    A band of adjacent radio frequencies (e.g., assigned for transmitting radio or television signals).

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “frequency” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

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.