microphone

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: microphône

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology[edit]

From micro- +‎ -phone.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmaɪ.kɹəˌfəʊn/
  • (file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmaɪ.kɹəˌfoʊn/
  • (file)

Noun[edit]

microphone (plural microphones)

A microphone.
  1. A device (transducer) used to convert sound waves into a varying electric current; normally fed into an amplifier and either recorded or transmitted over radio.
    • 1965, Charles McDowell, Campaign Fever: The National Folk Festival, from New Hampshire to November, 1964, Morrow, page 11:
      Behind the tangled garden of microphones that had sprouted on the lectern, Goldwater spoke softly and casually about his family.
    • 1994, High Definition Television: An Annotated Multidisciplinary Bibliography, 1981-1992[1], page 112:
      It rained hard through most of Roosevelt's Second Inaugural. Audio tape recordings of the speech feature the tattoo of the rain on Roosevelt's microphone []
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:microphone.

Usage notes[edit]

  • Metaphors for many microphones (such as can be observed at a press conference) include garden of microphones and sea of microphones. Wall of microphones is used both figuratively (of a group of reporters) and literally (a wall covered with microphones).

Synonyms[edit]

  • (transducer of sound waves to electricity): mic, mike

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

microphone (third-person singular simple present microphones, present participle microphoning, simple past and past participle microphoned)

  1. (transitive) To put one or more microphones on or in.

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From micro- +‎ -phone.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

microphone m (plural microphones)

  1. microphone
    Synonym: micro

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Further reading[edit]