Word.ws English Dictionary

carrier wave

Syllables: car·ri·er waveUK/ˈkæ.ɹɪ.ə weɪv/US/ˈkæ.ɹɪ.ɚ weɪv/

carrier wave noun: a wave that can be modulated, either in amplitude, frequency, or phase, to carry or transmit images, music, speech, or other signals.

carrier wave: a wave that can be modulated, either in amplitude, frequency, or phase, to carry or transmit...
Image: Mysid, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

carrier wave (plural carrier waves)

  1. A wave that can be modulated, either in amplitude, frequency, or phase, to carry or transmit images, music, speech, or other signals.
    • This invention relates to carrier wave signaling systems and more particularly to systems of multiplex telephony employing carrier waves wherein such carrier waves of distinctive frequencies are normally impressed upon the transmission medium. Such medium may comprise any of the natural media...1920 December 21, Charles White, Carrier-wave Signaling System, US Patent 1,480,235 (PDF version), page 1, column 1
    • I have a waterproof basket arranged on my operating table, and when the static waves come over it, they fall in. There is no trouble in receiving music, however, for the audio frequency voice waves are superimposed on a carrier wave. This carrier wave carries the music over the basket, without...1922 August, Monroe Worthington, “A Hill Billy’s Radio”, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Radio News, volume 4, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, →OCLC, page 300
  2. (obsolete) Synonym of soliton (“a self-reinforcing pulse or travelling wave caused by any non-linear effect”).
    • The same propagation through the same ether brought the rays of the sun's light from the sun to the earth, and the same carrier wave brought from the other side of the globe, from the oceans there, which were disturbed by the attraction of the sun and moon, those waves all round the coasts which...1877 November 30, J[ohn] Scott Russell, “[The Telephone. By Professor A[lexander] Graham Bell.] Discussion.”, in Journal of the Society of Arts, volume XXVI, number 1,306, London: Published for the...
    • Noise is caused by a shock or stroke or beat given to some mass of matter. The shock tells on the mass of air near the struck body. It sends this mass of air into a heap near the struck body. This heap forms an air wave. [...] This wave is the carrier of the shock through great distances in the...1878, J[ohn] Scott Russell, “Symmetry, Harmony, and Melody”, in Geometry in Modern Life, Being the Substance of Two Lectures on Useful Geometry, Given before the Literary Society at Eton, Eton...

carrier wave meaning in Tamil, Arabic, Indonesian and Persian

carrier wave in Tamil

wave that can be modulated to transmit signals
கடத்தி அலை kaṭatti alai

carrier wave in Arabic

wave that can be modulated to transmit signals
موجة حاملة

carrier wave in Indonesian

wave that can be modulated to transmit signals
gelombang pembawa

carrier wave in Persian

wave that can be modulated to transmit signals
موج حامل
More languagesFewer languages
carrier wave in Vietnamese
sóng tải

Examples of carrier wave in a sentence

  • There is no trouble in receiving music, however, for the audio frequency voice waves are superimposed on a carrier wave.1922 August, Monroe Worthington, “A Hill Billy’s Radio”, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Radio News, volume 4, number 2, New York, N.Y....
  • His idea was to superimpose the signal wave on the carrier wave: to "modulate" the carrier wave.1977, James Monaco, “Media”, in How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History, and Theory of Film and Media, New York, N.Y....
  • All these phenomena, from the tides and the wind to the rays of light and to the sounds of the telephone, were the motion of one simple phenomenon, the carrier wave, the wave of translation.1877 November 30, J[ohn] Scott Russell, “[The Telephone. By Professor A[lexander] Graham Bell.] Discussion.”, in Journal of the Society of...
  • This "carrier wave" takes the shock of the stroke from afar, to the ear of the listener.1878, J[ohn] Scott Russell, “Symmetry, Harmony, and Melody”, in Geometry in Modern Life, Being the Substance of Two Lectures on Useful...

Synonyms of carrier wave

Forms of carrier wave

pluralcarrier waves

Origin of carrier wave

From carrier + wave. Sense 2 (“soliton”) was coined by the Scottish civil engineer, naval architect, and shipbuilder John Scott Russell (1808–1882): see the quotations.

Questions about carrier wave

What does carrier wave mean?
Carrier wave means a wave that can be modulated, either in amplitude, frequency, or phase, to carry or transmit images, music, speech, or other signals.
What is carrier wave in Tamil?
Carrier wave in Tamil is கடத்தி அலை (kaṭatti alai). See Carrier wave meaning in Tamil.
How do you use carrier wave in a sentence?
There is no trouble in receiving music, however, for the audio frequency voice waves are superimposed on a carrier wave.
What part of speech is carrier wave?
Carrier wave is a noun.
How do you pronounce carrier wave?
Carrier wave is pronounced /ˈkæ.ɹɪ.ə weɪv/ (UK).
What is the plural of carrier wave?
The plural of carrier wave is carrier waves.

Words near carrier wave in the dictionary

  1. carrier screening
  2. carrier set
  3. carrier sets
  4. carrier shell
  5. carrier shells
  6. carrier wave
  7. carrier waves
  8. carrier-pigeon
  9. carrier-pigeons
  10. carrierbag
  11. carrierbags

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: carrier wave (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-carrier wave.ogg.

Cite this entry: “carrier wave.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/carrier_wave. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.