Word.ws English Dictionary

electric

Syllables: electr·ic/ɪˈlɛktɹɪk//ɪˈlɛktɹɪk/

electric adjective: of, relating to, produced by, operated with, or utilising electricity; electrical.

Adjective

electric (not comparable)

  1. Of, relating to, produced by, operated with, or utilising electricity; electrical.
    • An electric oven needs an electric socket.
    • But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion
  2. Of or relating to an electronic version of a musical instrument that has an acoustic equivalent.
  3. (figuratively) Emotionally thrilling; electrifying.
    • A glance from Beatrice—for nothing is so electric as the kindness of sympathy—stopped the tide of bewailings that were gushing forth. "Poor child!" muttered the housekeeper; "but it's no good telling her."1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 278
    • And bold / Electric Pindar, quick as fear, / With race-dust on his cheeks, and clear / Slant startled eyes that seemed to hear // The chariot rounding the last goal, / to hurtle past it in his soul.a. 1857, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “A Vision of Poets”, in Poems, volume I, New York: C. S. Francis & Co., published 1857, pages 195–196
    Synonyms:
    electrical

Noun

electric (plural electrics)

  1. (informal, usually, with-definite-article) Electricity; the electricity supply.
    • We had to sit in the dark because the electric was cut off.
  2. (countable, informal, rare) An electric car, locomotive, train etc.
    • Equally I can stand in a station like Lucerne in Switzerland, and watch with ill-concealed admiration the majestic entry of one of the latest Gotthard "Ae 6/6" electrics, packing 6,000 horsepower within its 60 ft. of length and 121 tons of weight, with its sleek dark green sides and handsome...1955 April, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 261
    • There were electric vehicles around, but four-wheel drive electrics were pretty damned rare, and the snow was deep enough to stop anything that didn't have a minimum of four big wheels spinning at all times.2004, Dennis Barton, Red Star 4: Victory
  3. (informal) An electric toothbrush.
    • The beautiful VIOlight bathroom unit takes up very little space (it's about the size of a cup), yet it holds up to 4 toothbrushes - even electrics!2007, Working Mother, volume 31, number 1, page 71
  4. (informal) An electric typewriter.
    • Richard's old Olivetti electric had been put aside for the time being on top of one of the filing cabinets. “It serves the purpose,” Richard said. He nodded at the word processor.1983, Stephen King, Word Processor of the Gods
  5. (archaic) A substance or object which can be electrified; an insulator or non-conductor, like amber or glass.
  6. Fencing with the use of a body wire, box, and related equipment to detect when a weapon has touched an opponent.
    Antonyms:
    steam

electric meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

electric in Hindi

electrical
विद्युतीय vidyutīya, इलेक्ट्रिक ilekṭrik

electric in Tamil

electrical
மின் miṉ, எலெக்ட்ரிக் elekṭrik

electric in Urdu

electrical
بَرْقی barqī, اِلیکْٹْرِک ilekṭrik

electric in Bengali

electrical
বৈদ্যুতিক bōiddutik
More languagesFewer languages
electric in Malayalam
ആലക്തികമായ, വൈദ്യുതി ഉപയോഗിച്ച് പ്രവ൪ത്തിക്കുന്ന, വിദ്യുച്ഛക്തിജന്യമായ, വിദ്യുത്‌ജനകമായ
electric in Kannada
ವಿದ್ಯುತ್ತಿನ, ವಿದ್ಯುಚ್ಛಕ್ತಿಯ, ವಿದ್ಯುಚ್ಛಕ್ತಿಯನ್ನು ಉತ್ಪಾದಿಸುವ
electric in Pashto
برقي barqī, برېښنايي brex̌nāyi
electric in Tagalog
elektriko, dagitbin, de-koryente
electric in Arabic
كَهْرَبَائِيّ kahrabāʔiyy, كَهْرُبَائِيّ kahrubāʔiyy, كَهْرَبِيّ kahrabiyy
electric in Malay
elektrik
electric in Indonesian
listrik, elektris
electric in Persian
ماشین برقی mâšin-e barqi
electric in Thai
ไฟฟ้า fai-fáa
electric in Vietnamese
điện, điện khí
electric in Myanmar
လျှပ်စစ်ဓာတ် hlyapcacdhat, လျှပ်စစ် hlyapcac

Examples of electric in a sentence

  • [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity.2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
  • While Britain continues to argue about how to deliver affordable electrification and decarbonisation, Swiss railways have been 100% electric since the 1960s.2022 December 14, Ben Jones, “Switzerland: a template for Northern Powerhouse Rail?”, in RAIL, number 972, page 28:

All 40 example sentences with electric

Synonyms of electric

Antonyms

Forms of electric

Adjective
alternative form (obsolete)electrick
Noun
pluralelectrics

Origin of electric

First attested in c. 1646 in a publication by Thomas Browne. From New Latin ēlectricus (“electrical; of amber”), from ēlectr(um) (“amber”) + -icus (“adjectival suffix”); from Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, “amber”); related to ἠλέκτωρ (ēléktōr, “shining sun”), of unknown origin (see which for more). The Latin term was apparently used first with the sense electrical in 1600 by the English physician and scientist William Gilbert in his work De Magnete.

Words formed from electric

Phrases with electric

113 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about electric

What does electric mean?
Electric means of, relating to, produced by, operated with, or utilising electricity; electrical.
What is electric in Hindi?
Electric in Hindi is विद्युतीय (vidyutīya), इलेक्ट्रिक (ilekṭrik). See Electric meaning in Hindi.
How do you use electric in a sentence?
[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity.
What part of speech is electric?
Electric can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce electric?
Electric is pronounced /ɪˈlɛktɹɪk/ (UK).

Words near electric in the dictionary

  1. electresses
  2. electret
  3. electretic
  4. electrets
  5. Electrian
  6. electric
  7. electric arc
  8. electric arc furnace
  9. electric arc furnaces
  10. electric arcs
  11. electric bass

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: electric (page history and authors); electric (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); electric (Kannada Wiktionary) (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-us-electric.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-electric.wav.

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