scanner
noun
Simple meaning
A device which scans documents to convert them to a digital medium.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
skanerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈskænɚ
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A radio receiver that moves automatically across some selected range of frequencies looking for some signal or condition
“They used scanners to monitor police radio channels.”
A device which scans documents in order to convert them to a digital medium.
A radio receiver which iterates through a sequence of frequencies to detect signal.
A device which scans barcodes or QR codes for the purpose of charging a customer, performing a price check or enquiry, printing a price label or sticker, checking an item in or out of the store or warehouse, or finding an item ordered through click and collect and its corresponding location; a pricing gun or HHT.
Someone who scans verse to determine the number and prosodic value of the syllables
One who scans.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A device which scans documents in order to convert them to a digital medium.
Used this way, scanner is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technology 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
- Technology
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use scanner
- “They used scanners to monitor police radio channels.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A tomograph that constructs a 3-D model of an object by combining parallel planes.
An electronic device that generates a digital representation of an image for data input to a computer.
A radio receiver that moves automatically across some selected range of frequencies looking for some signal or condition.
A tomograph that constructs a 3-D model of an object by combining parallel planes.
A tomograph that produces cross-sectional X-rays of metabolic processes in the body.
A tomograph that produces cross-sectional X-rays of metabolic processes in the body.
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.