Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Wave |
WaveNoun1. One of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water). 2. A movement like that of an ocean wave; "a wave of settlers"; "troops advancing in waves". 3. (physics) a progressive disturbance propagated without displacement of the medium itself. 4. Something that rises rapidly and dies away; "a wave of emotion swept over him"; "there was a sudden wave of buying before the market closed". 5. The act of signaling by a movement of the hand. 6. A hairdo that creates undulations in the hair. 7. An undulating curve. Verb1. Signal with the hands or nod; "She waved to her friends"; "He waved his hand hospitably". 2. Move or swing back and forth; "She waved her gun.". 3. Move in a wavy pattern, as of curtains. 4. Twist or roll into coils or ringlets; "curl my hair, please". 5. Set waves in; of hair. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "wave" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1200. (references) |
Etymology: Wave \Wave\, noun. [From Wave, v.; not the same word as Old English wawe, waghe, a wave, which is akin to English wag to move. See Wave, intransitive verb]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | WAVE |
Aerospace | A disturbance which is propagated in a medium in such a manner that at any point in the medium the quantity serving as measure of disturbance is a function of the time, while at any instant the displacement at a point is a function of the position of the point.Any physical quantity that has the same relationship to some independent variable (usually time) that a propagated disturbance has, at a particular instant, with respect to space, may be called a wave. (references) |
Food & Agriculture | Oscillatory movement of the sea which results in an alternate rise and fall at the surface. Waves are produced by the wind blowing at the time and place of observation as distinguished from swells which usually result from a storm at a place more or less distant. Source: European Union. (references) |
Geography | The disturbance in a body of water propagated at a constant or varying speed, often of an oscillatory nature. Source: European Union. (references) |
Industry | Defective surface of sheet, rolled or toughened glass caused by depressions, small in area and depth, which give the surface a hammered appearance. Source: European Union. (references) |
| Deformation of a web of e. g. paper normally at the edges, as a result of a non-uniform moisture content. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Literature | Wave The ninth wave. A notion prevails that the waves keep increasing in regular series till the maximum arrives, and then the series begins again. No doubt when two waves coalesce they form a large one, but this does not occur at fixed intervals. The most common theory is that the tenth wave is the largest, but Tennyson says the ninth. "And then the two Dropt to the cove, and watch'd the great sea fall, Wave after wave, each mightier than the last, Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame." Tennyson: The Holy Grail. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Nuclear Energy & Physics | A formation of forces, landing ships, craft, amphibious vehicles or aircraft, required to beach or land about the same time. Can be classified as to type, function or order as shown:a. Assault wave; b. Boat wave; c. Helicopter wave; d. Numbered wave; e. On-call wave; f. Scheduled wave. Source: European Union. (references) |
Physics | A disturbance propagated in a medium in such a manner that at any point in the medium the quantity serving as the measure of disturbance is a function of the time, while at any instant the displacement at a point is a function of the location of the point. Source: European Union. (references) |
Public Administration | Disturbance on the surface of the sea caused by local winds, and represented numerically by the Douglas scale. Source: European Union. (references) |
Science | 1. In electricity, a periodic variation of an electric current or voltage. 2. In physics, any of the series of advancing impulses set up by a vibration, pulsation, or disturbance in air or some other medium, as in the transmission of heat, light, sound, etc. (references) |
Space | A disturbance spreading in space, obeying a certain "wave equation." Sound waves, ocean waves and electromagnetic waves are some of the examples; other, more complicated types of waves can spread in plasmas. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The "wave" (also called a Mexican wave) is a phenomenon that commonly occurs in the audiences of sporting events, and sometimes in other large crowds. A wave is a coordinated sequence of actions taken by the audience members in which a group of spectators lying along a radial line extending outward from the sport field all stand up and raise their arms, then return to a normal seated posture again as the neighboring group of spectators takes their turn to stand up.The result is a "wave" of standing audience members that travels rapidly through the audience, even though individual audience members never move from their seats. In many large arenas the audience is seated in a circular arrangement all the way around the sport field, and so the wave is able to travel continuously around the arena; in non-circular seating arrangements, the wave can instead reflect back and forth through the audience. When the gap in seating is narrow, the wave can sometimes pass through it. Usually only one wave crest will be present at any given time in an arena.
The exact origin of the wave is unclear. It first gained popularity in the United States in the early 1980s, with the Oakland Athletics baseball team reporting that the first appearance of the wave at a Major League Baseball game was in Oakland, California on October 15, 1981. Others claim that the first wave originated in Husky stadium on October 31, 1981, at the prompting of cheerleader Rob Weller. The wave was apparently introduced into the soccer community at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, from which the name "Mexican wave" derives.
In 2002, Tamás Vicsek of the Eötvös University, Hungary along with his colleagues analyzed videos of 14 waves at large Mexican soccer stadiums, developing a standard model of audience wave behavior (published in the September issue of Nature). He found that it takes only the actions of a few dozen fans to trigger a wave. Once started, it usually rolls in a clockwise direction at a rate of about 40 feet per second, or about 20 seats per second. At any given time an audience wave is about 15 seats wide. These observations appear to be applicable across different cultures and sports.
External links
- Tamás Vicsek's analysis of the audience wave - http://angel.elte.hu/wave
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Audience wave."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Electromagnetic radiation is a combination of oscillating electric and magnetic fields propagating through space and carrying energy from one place to another. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation. The theoretical study of electromagnetic radiation is called electrodynamics, a subfield of electromagnetism.
Any electric charge which accelerates radiates electromagnetic radiation. When any wire (or other conducting object such as an antenna) conducts alternating current, electromagnetic radiation is propagated at the same frequency as the electric current. Depending on the circumstances, it may behave as waves or as particles. As a wave, it is characterized by a velocity (the velocity of light), wavelength, and frequency. When considered as particles, they are known as photons, and each has an energy related to the frequency of the wave given by Planck's relation E = hv, where E is the energy of the photon, h is Planck's constant - 6.626 × 10-34 J·s - and v is the frequency of the wave. Einstein later updated this formula to Ephoton = hv.
Generally, electromagnetic radiation is classified by wavelength into radio, microwave, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, X-rays and gamma rays. The details of this classification are contained in the article on the electromagnetic spectrum.
The effect of radiation depends on the amount of energy per quantum it carries. High energies correspond to high frequencies and short wavelengths, and vice versa. One rule is always obeyed, regardless of the circumstances. Radiation in vacuum always travels at the speed of light, relative to the observer, regardless of the observer's velocity. (This observation led to Albert Einstein's development of the theory of special relativity).
Much information about the physical properties of an object can be obtained from its electromagnetic spectrum; this can be either the spectrum of light emitted from, or transmitted through the object. This involves spectroscopy and is widely used in astrophysics. For example; many hydrogen atoms emit radio waves which have a wavelength of 21.12 cm.
When electromagnetic radiation passes through a conductor it induces an electric current flow in the conductor. This effect is used in antennas. Electromagnetic radiation may also cause certain molecules to oscillate and thus to heat up; this is exploited in microwave ovens.
See Also
- Electromagnetic radiation hazards
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Electromagnetic radiation."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
nds:BülgA wave is a disturbance that propagates. Apart from electromagnetic radiation, which can travel through vacuum, waves have a medium (which on deformation is capable of producing elastic restoring forces) through which they travel and can transfer energy from one place to another without any of the particles of the medium being displaced permanently; i.e. there is no associated mass transport. Instead, any particular point oscillates around a fixed position.
A medium is called:
- linear if different waves at any particular point in the medium can be added,
- bounded if it is finite in extent,otherwise unbounded.
- uniform if its physical properties are unchanged at different points,
- isotropic if its physical properties are same in different directions.
Examples of waves
- Sea-waves, which are perturbations that propagate through water (see also surfing and tsunami).
- Sound - a mechanical wave that propagates through air, liquid or solids, and is of a frequency detected by the auditory system. Similar are seismic waves in earthquakes, of which there are the S, P and L kinds.
- Light, radio waves, x-rays, etc. make up electromagnetic radiation. In this case propagation is possible without a medium, through vacuum.
Characteristic properties
All waves have common behaviour under a number of standard situations. All waves can experience the following:
- Reflection - when a wave turns back from the direction it was travelling, due to hitting a reflective material.
- Refraction - the change of direction of waves due to them entering a new medium.
- Diffraction - the spreading out of waves, for example when they travel through a small slit.
- Interference - the addition of two waves that come in to contact with each other.
- Dispersion - the splitting up of a wave up depending on frequency.
Transverse and longitudinal waves
Transverse waves are those with vibrations perpendicular to the wave's direction of travel; examples include waves on a string and electromagnetic waves. Longitudinal waves are those with vibrations along the wave's direction of travel; examples include sound waves.
When an object bobs up and down on a
ripple in a pond it experiences an elliptical
trajectory because ripples are not simple
transverse sinusoidal wavesRippless on the surface of a pond are actually a combination of transverse and longitudinal waves; therefore, the points on the surface follow elliptical paths.
Polarization
Transverse waves can be polarized. Unpolarised waves can oscillate in any direction in the plane perpendicular to the direction of travel, while polarized waves oscillate in only one direction perpendicular to the line of travel.
Physical description of a wave
Waves can be described using a number of standard variables including: frequency, wavelength, amplitude and period. The amplitude of a wave is the measure of the magnitude of the maximum disturbance in the medium during one wave cycle, and is measured in units depending on the type of wave. For examples, waves on a string have an amplitude expressed as a distance (meters), sound waves as pressure (pascals) and electromagnetic waves as the amplitude of the electric field (volts/meter). The amplitude may be constant (in which case the wave is a c.w. or continuous wave) or may vary with time and/or position. The form of the variation of amplitude is called the envelope of the wave.
The period (T) is the time for one complete cycle for an oscillation of a wave. The frequency (F) is how many periods per unit time (for example one second) and is measured in hertz. These are related by:
When waves are expressed mathematically, the angular frequency (ω, radians/second) is often used; it is related to the frequency f by:
- .
- .
Travelling waves
Waves that remain in one place are called standing waves - eg vibrations on a violin string. Waves that are moving are called travelling waves, and have a disturbance that varies both with time t and distance z. This can be expressed mathematically as:,
where A(z,t) is the amplitude envelope of the wave, k is the wave number and φ is the phase. The velocity v of this wave is given by:
,
where λ is the wavelength of the wave.
The wave equation
In the most general sense, not all waves are sinusoidal. One example of a non-sinusoidal wave is a pulse that travels down a rope resting on the ground. In the most general case, any function of x, y, z, and t that is a non-trivial solution to the wave equation is a wave. The wave equation is a differential equation which describes a harmonic wave passing through a certain medium. The equation has different forms depending on how the wave is transmitted, and on what medium. A non-linear wave-equation can cause mass transport.
The Schrödinger equation describes the wave-like behaviour of particles in quantum mechanics. Solutions of this equation are wave functions which can be used to describe the probability density of a particle.
See also
- Standing wave
- Doppler effect
- Ripple tank
- Demonstrating sound waves on an Oscilloscope
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Wave."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
WAVE | English | World Association of Video-Makers and Editions | Industry |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: WaveSynonyms: moving ridge (n), undulation (n), wafture (n), waving (n), beckon (v), brandish (v), curl (v), flap (v), flourish (v), undulate (v). (additional references) |
| Synonym by domain: cockling (industry, meteorology & standards). |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Convolution | Winding; Verb: convolution, involution, circumvolution; wave, undulation, tortuosity, anfractuosity; sinuosity, sinuation; meandering, circuit, circumbendibus, twist, twirl, windings and turnings, ambages; torsion; inosculation; reticulation; (crossing); rivulation; roughness. |
Verb: be convoluted; Adjective:wind, twine, turn and twist, twirl; wave, undulate, meander; inosculate; entwine, intwine; twist, coil, roll; wrinkle, curl, crisp, twill; frizzle; crimp, crape, indent, scollop, scallop, wring, intort; contort; wreathe; (cross). | |
Evolution | Verb: oscillate; vibrate, librate; alternate, undulate, wave; rock, swing; pulsate, beat; wag, waggle; nod, bob, courtesy, curtsy; tick; play; wamble, wabble; dangle, swag. |
Wave, vibratiuncle, swing, beat, shake, wag, seesaw, dance, lurch, dodge; logan, loggan, rocking-stone, vibroscope. | |
Indication | Wave a banner, unfurl a banner, hoist a banner, hang out a banner; Noun: wave the hand, wave a kerchief; give the cue; (inform); show one's colors; give an alarm, sound an alarm; beat the drum, sound the trumpets, raise a cry. |
Ocean | Noun: sea, ocean, main, deep, brine, salt water, waves, billows, high seas, offing, great waters, watery waste, "vasty deep"; wave, tide,. (water in motion). |
Resistance | Breast the wave, breast the current; stem the tide, stem the torrent; face, confront, grapple with; show a bold front; (courage); present a front; make a stand, take one's stand. |
River | Wave, billow, surge, swell, ripple; |
Sorcery | Verb: practice sorcery;Noun: cast a nativity, conjure, exorcise, charm, enchant; bewitch, bedevil; hoodoo, voodoo; entrance, mesmerize, magnetize; fascinate; (influence); taboo; wave a wand; rub the ring, rub the lamp; cast a spell; call up spirits, call up spirits from the vasty deep; raise spirits from the dead. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Wave |
| English words defined with "wave": acoustic wave, air wave ♦ carrier wave ♦ finger wave ♦ gravitation wave, gravity wave, ground wave ♦ Hertzian wave ♦ ionospheric wave ♦ long wave ♦ Pulse wave ♦ radio wave, rolling wave ♦ Schrodinger wave equation, short wave, sine wave, sky wave, sound wave, standing wave, stationary wave ♦ tidal wave ♦ wave angle, wave form, Wave front, Wave length, Wave loaf, wave number, Wave of vibration, wave shape, Wave surface. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "wave": Waveson. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | So, you think you could outclever us french folks with your silly, knees-bent, running-about, advancing behavior? I wave my private parts at your aunties, you cheesy-leather, second-hand, electric donkey bottom biters (Monty Python and the Holy Grail; writing credit: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.) I smile, wave my little hat I did that, so when do I get paid (A League of Their Own; writing credit: Kim Wilson; Kelly Candaele) Tell me, Cordell, to you does that look like a wave goodbye or hello (Hannibal; writing credit: David Mamet) I think you're supposed to wave. (The Nutcracker Prince; writing credit: E.T.A. Hoffmann; Patricia Watson) That tidal wave will devastate and destroy mankind across the face of the globe (Transformers; writing credit: George Arthur Bloom; Doug Booth) | |
Lyrics | And wave 'em around like you just don't care (Everybody(Backstreet's Back); performing artist: BACKSTREET BOYS) Like the rest of the Romeos wore a permanent wave, yeah (Keeping The Faith; performing artist: Billy Joel) And the tall grass wave in the wind (The End of the Innocence; performing artist: Don Henley) We’ve got a wave in the air (Radar Love; performing artist: Golden Earring) And he like to wave his diamond rings (Bad, Bad Leroy Brown; performing artist: Jim Croce) | |
Clever | Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures (references; author: unknown) Indiana: 2 Billion Years Tidal Wave Free (references; author: unknown) Next time you wave, use all your fingers. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Heat Wave! (1974) A Quiet Wave (1971) The Big Wave (1961) Calypso Heat Wave (1957) The Dark Wave (1956) | |
Song Titles | Heat Wave (performing artist: Martha and The Vandellas) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References |
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Books | |||
Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Consumer Goods |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
Loran stands for LOng RANge navigation, and is a long distance radio-navigation land station that transmits synchronized radio wave pulses. Credit: CDC. | ![]() | "Water Wave" (movie) by Yehia Muhsen. | |
![]() | Here is an 8D graph -- a 3D array of time-dependent 3D vectors, using color to show a pressure wave propagating through the moving vectors. | ![]() | Cygnus Loop Supernova Blast Wave. Credit: NASA. |
![]() | Mach 5.5 Wave Rider in Full Scale Wind Tunnel. Credit: NASA. | ![]() | Dolphin in the bow wave of the NOAA Ship RUDE. Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals). |
![]() | Dolphin riding in the bow wave of the NOAA Ship FERREL. Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals). | ![]() | Short wave radio recorder Astro party of E. J. Brown Part of World Longitude Campaign. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
![]() | Diagram of possible sound wave paths in water Wave-path O-C-E came close to describing refractive path of sound in SOFAR layer Sound path model developed in 1930's for radio acoustic ranging work Didn't yet understand the channeling effect of the velocity minimum Furthest RAR use was out to 206 miles offshore in 1925. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. | ![]() | Strange wave refraction pattern apparent in aerial photograph as swells encounter large merchant vessel. Credit: America's Coastlines. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
![]() | ![]() |
| "Stony wave" by Henrik Tibbing Commentary: "Wave on stony shore, Nice, France." | "Blue Wave" by Jack Hirsch Commentary: "Picture I took of the christmas lights I had up. I think it looks quite like a wave." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
| Whale; underwater; sonic wave. | Ocean; wave; waves; tide; water; sea; . | ||
| Gull; cry; cries; wave; ocean; sea; crash; water; beach; shore; . | Gull; cry; cries; wave; ocean; sea; crash; water; beach; shore; . | ||
| Seagull; caw; water; wave; tide; soothing; soothe; coast; coastland; seashore; curlew; sandpiper; sand; waterfront; ocean; . | Swish; swing; swirl; thrash; thresh; vibrate; wag; wave. | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Anne Morrow Lindbergh | The wave of the future is coming and there is no fighting it. |
Homer | A small rock holds back a great wave. |
Lord Alfred Tennyson | No rock so hard but that a little wave may beat admission in a thousand years. |
Ovid | Neither can the wave that has passed by be recalled, nor the hour which has passed return again. |
Samuel Johnson | Some people wave their dogmatic thinking until their own reason is entangled. |
Thomas Jefferson | The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Three Voices | Carroll, Lewis | He a bewildered answer gave, Drowned in the sullen moaning wave, Lost in the echoes of the cave |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | And he dismissed him with a wave of his hand |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | Again a wave. |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | On land only the grass and trees wave, but the water itself is rippled by the wind |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Sine wave current has been found to impair memory more than pulsed current. (references) | |
The action of peristalsis looks like an ocean wave moving through the muscle. (references) | ||
Some people continue to show normal brain wave patterns even after they have experienced a seizure. (references) | ||
Business | The market has also become more concentrated due to a wave of acquisitions. (references) | |
The corporation's mobile phone wave coverage is permitted to widen to Hanoi. (references) | ||
Over the past two years, the banking system has been plagued by a wave of robberies. (references) | ||
Children | Cameroon | During a crime wave in the country's largest cities of Yaounde and Douala, newspaper reports often cited children as victims of kidnaping, mutilation, and even infanticide. (references) |
Civil Liberties | Benin | The Benin Office of Radio and Television (ORTB) transmits on the FM and AM frequencies and by short wave in French and local languages. (references) |
Economic History | Qatar | Most broadcasts on the medium wave are in Arabic. (references) |
Human Rights | Guatemala | No active members of the military serve in the police command structure, but in March 2000, Congress enacted a law enabling the Government to employ the army to continue to support the police temporarily in response to an ongoing nationwide wave of violent crime. (references) |
Minorities | Liberia | In July the Government deployed units of the ATU to Maryland County to help stem a wave of ritual killings, and the reported incidence of ritualistic killings had decreased by year's end. (references) |
Pakistan | Government efforts to stem a wave of sectarian violence in the weeks leading up to Muharram, including mass arrests of those suspected of participating in sectarian violence and a public call for religious leaders to enforce a code of conduct, resulted in fewer deaths during Muharram compared with 2000. Antiterrorist courts handed down convictions against several individuals accused of sectarian violence during the year; however, government authorities did not detain suspects in many other cases of sectarian violence. (references) | |
Political Economy | Lesotho | The 1998 opposition protest and SADC intervention resulted in a wave of political violence and arson that destroyed nearly 80 percent of the commercial infrastructure in Maseru and other towns and villages. (references) |
OMAN | Though the government in Oman selected international advisors for planned privatizations in the telecommunications sector in 1999, the project missed the wave of telecoms enthusiasm, and now appears to be on hold in hope of a general economic upturn. (references) | |
Japan | On April 24, 2001 Junichiro Koizumi, a 10-term Diet member from a suburb of Tokyo, rode a tidal wave of public support to the Presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Since the LDP is the leading member of the three party coalition that rules Japan, two days later Japan's Diet duly elected Mr. Koizumi as the nation's new Prime Minister. (references) | |
Worker Rights | Zimbabwe | In May individuals and groups identifying themselves as war veterans, in collusion with the ruling party's regional organizations, began a wave of invasions and intimidation of commercial and nonprofit business entities. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | SIREN, n. One of several musical prodigies famous for a vain attempt to dissuade Odysseus from a life on the ocean wave. Figuratively, any lady of splendid promise, dissembled purpose and disappointing performance. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
John F. Kennedy | 1961-1963 | There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Wave" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 90.94% of the time. "Wave" is used about 3,394 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 90.94% | 3,087 | 3,037 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 7.45% | 253 | 18,652 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.5% | 51 | 47,619 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.12% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 3,394 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "wave" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Wave | Last name | 170 | 53,477 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| Country | Name | Country | Name |
| Japan | Sun Wave Corporation | Sweden | New Wave Group AB |
| USA | Blue Wave Systems Inc. | ||
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "wave": absorption wave meter ♦ acoustic wave ♦ air wave ♦ alpha wave ♦ Archimedes Wave Swing ♦ assault wave ♦ be on the same wave ♦ beta wave ♦ blast wave ♦ blast wave difraction ♦ boat wave ♦ bow shock wave ♦ bow wave ♦ brain wave ♦ breaking wave ♦ Butcher's movable standing wave weir ♦ carrier wave ♦ circularly polarised wave ♦ circularly polarized wave ♦ coincident wave ♦ cold wave ♦ conical wave ♦ conjunctional wave ♦ continuous wave ♦ crestless wave ♦ crime wave ♦ cyclone wave ♦ cyclonic wave ♦ damped wave ♦ delta wave ♦ descending wave ♦ diffracted wave ♦ direct wave propagation ♦ earth wave ♦ earthquake wave ♦ elastic wave ♦ electromagnetic wave ♦ elliptically polarised wave ♦ elliptically polarized wave ♦ ether wave ♦ finger wave ♦ first wave of a panel ♦ frontal wave ♦ gamma wave ♦ gravitation wave ♦ gravity wave ♦ grazing shock wave ♦ ground wave ♦ ground wave communication ♦ guided wave ♦ heat wave ♦ helicopter wave ♦ Helmholtz wave ♦ hertzian wave ♦ horizontal polarised wave ♦ horizontal polarized wave ♦ horizontally polarised wave ♦ horizontally polarized wave ♦ hot wave ♦ indirect wave propagation ♦ inertia wave ♦ ionospheric wave ♦ Isaacs Wave Pump ♦ Lamb wave ♦ light wave ♦ linearly polarized wave ♦ long wave ♦ Love wave ♦ major wave ♦ marcel wave ♦ medium wave ♦ metric wave ♦ modulated continuous wave ♦ modulating wave ♦ mountain wave ♦ n wave ♦ new wave ♦ numbered wave ♦ orographic wave ♦ pave the wave for ♦ periodic wave ♦ permanent wave ♦ pilot wave ♦ plane polarized wave ♦ plane sinusoidal wave ♦ planetary wave ♦ plate wave ♦ pulse wave ♦ quarter wave antenna ♦ radio wave ♦ rectangular wave ♦ reflected wave ♦ refracted wave ♦ rolling wave ♦ Rossby wave ♦ Rydberg wave number ♦ scheduled wave ♦ Schrodinger wave equation ♦ seismic wave ♦ settle wave ♦ shearing wave. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "wave": wave-and-wag, wave-battered, wave-break, wave-caps, wave-carved, wave-cast, wave-chevron, wave-chroniclers, wave-crest, wave-cut, wave-driven, wave-effect, wave-embossed, wave-energy, wave-fever, wave-form, wave-forms, wave-front, wave-function, wave-functions, wave-generating, wave-generators, wave-guide, wave-guiding, wave-height, wave-jumping, wave-lashed, wave-length, wave-length scale, wave-lengths, wave-like, Wave-line system, Wave-line theory, wave-mechanical, wave-motion, wave-off, wave-particle, wave-particle duality, wave-power, wave-preventing, wave-producing, wave-sliding, wave-smashed, wave-swept, wave-tank, wave-theory, wave-tom, wave-tops, wave-washed, wave-watchers, wave-worn. | |
Ending with "wave": big-wave, bow-wave, brain-wave, full-wave, half-wave, long-wave, medium-wave, micro-wave, middle-wave, new-wave, second-wave, shock-wave, square-wave. | |
Containing "wave": all-wave receiving set, full-wave rectifier, half-wave antenna, half-wave length aerial, noise-grunge-new-wave-of-alternative-corporate-underground-anarcho-core-punk, quarter-wave aerial, short-wave equipment, short-wave length, Short-Wave Therapy, surge-wave-shaped. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
shock wave | 15,333 | bose wave radio | 312 |
shock wave game | 4,796 | shock wave flash | 311 |
wave | 4,409 | wave editor | 283 |
ocean wave | 3,680 | macromedia shock wave player | 281 |
sound wave | 2,380 | wave to midi | 280 |
call wave | 2,152 | radio wave | 279 |
gold wave | 1,076 | new wave | 256 |
shock wave download | 1,000 | free shock wave game | 240 |
shock wave player | 923 | short wave radio | 214 |
day elliott equity fibonacci gann stock swing trading trading trading trading wave | 644 | beach ocean wave | 203 |
macromedia shock wave | 578 | big wave | 193 |
wild wave | 562 | elliot wave | 166 |
wave 3 | 493 | enchanted village wave wild | 161 |
shock wave com | 403 | elliott wave | 154 |
shock wave.com | 371 | wave converter | 147 |
wave runner | 359 | wave pool | 146 |
mp3 converter to wave | 347 | leatherman wave | 139 |
tidal wave | 345 | file free wave | 139 |
mp3 wave | 330 | shock wave arcade | 136 |
94.7 wave | 320 | summer wave | 135 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "wave"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | swaai (brandish, fling, swing, wave about), baar (litter, strecher). (various references) | |
Albanian | vijnë me onde, valëzohen, valëvitje (flourish, flutter, waft), valëvitet (flitter, flutter), valë (Eddy, frenzy, onrush, roller), tundje (agitation, beating, flourish, jar, jiggle, jog, joggle, jolt, jolting, misdoubt, nutation, oscillation, reel, rumble-tumble, shake, shaking, shimmy, sway, swing, teeter, thrill, tossing, waddle, wag, waggle, wiggle, wiggle-waggle), tunden, tund dorën, tallaz (billow), rrymë (current, drift, effluent, jet, Niagara, nullah, onflow, outpour, rain, spurt, squirt, stream, thrashing-floor, threshing floor, tide), permanent (lasting, Marcel, perm, permanent), flokët të dredhur (woolly hair), dallgë (breaker, Eddy, water-wave), bëj me dorë. (various references) | |
Arabic | موجة (billow, oscillation, sea, surge, swell, undulation, vibration), موج (crimp, crisp, curl, undulate), ماء بحر, ناس (folk, oblivious), لوح مهددا (brandish), لوح (blackboard, flag, flourish, gesture, sheet, slab, tablet), تمويج الشعر, تموج (corrugate, fluctuate, ripple, roll, ruffle, stream, undulate, undulation, vibration), تلويح, تذبذب (balance, fluctuation, gyrate, oscillate, pulsate, vacillate, vacillation, vibrate, vibration, waver, weave, whiffle, wiggle, wobble), أشار إلى شخص بالتوقف, رفرفة (flutter, hover), رفرف (flap, flutter, hover, poise). (various references) | |
Basque | uhin. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | къдря (crisp, curl, dimple, frizz up, frounce), извивка (bend, convolution, crook, curve, flection, flexion, fold, incurvation, indentation, kink, return, sinuosity, sweep, tortuousity, twine, twist, wind, winding), полюшвам се, правя вълнообразен, махам с ръка, моарирам (water), ондулирам (set), ондулация (set), изблик (access, accession, burst, ebullience, ebulliency, ebullition, exuberance, flare, flash, flood, flush, gale, gust, outbreak, outburst, outcrop, outflow, passion, riot, rush, spasm, spate, spirt, spurt, surge), вълнообразна линия, ставам на вълни (become curly), къдря се (crisp, curl), трептене (flutter, jar, oscillation, quiver, trembling, tremor, vibration), чупка за коса, радиовълна (carrier), размахвам (brandish, flap, flourish, shoot out, swing, switch, whisk, wigwag), развявам (flap), ръкомахам (saw the air), ръкомахане, вълна (budge, fur, pile, rush, sea). (various references) | |
Catalan | ona. (various references) | |
Chinese | 波浪 . (various references) | |
Czech | vlna (rash, roller, sea, surge, tide, upsurge, wool). (various references) | |
Danish | bølge (peak, pucker, top), vinke, svinge (brandish, fling, sway, swing, wave about). (various references) | |
Dutch | zwaaien (brandish, dangle, fling, sway, swing, wave about), wuiven, golf (golf, gulf), gebaren (gesture). (various references) | |
Esperanto | svingsaluti, svingi (brandish, fling, swing, wave about), ondumi (corrugate), ondo, mansigni. (various references) | |
Faeroese | veittra (brandish, fling, swing, wave about), reiggja (brandish, fling, rock, swing, wave about), bylgja, alda. (various references) | |
Farsi | فرموی سر, موجی بودن , موج زدن (Shimmer, Surge), موج (Cockle), خیزاب (Billow), دست تکان دادن . (various references) | |
Finnish | aalto (billow, fluid, liquid, roller), laine (billow), heiluttaa (brandish, fling, rock, sway, swing, wag, wave about, whisk). (various references) | |
French | vague, onde (water), brandir (wave about), onduler, ondulation (waved line, wavering), lame, agiter (wag, waggle, wave about). (various references) | |
Frisian | weach, baar. (various references) | |
German | Welle (Arbor, axle, billow, circle, craze, kink, light wave, ridge, shaft, spindle, stem, warp, wavelength), Woge (billow, swell), winken (beckon, coil, hail, signal), wogen (billow, heave, rage, ripple, rolling, surge, swell, to billow, to surge, toss, undulate, waves, welter, welters), wellen (billows, corrugate, Crimp, Crinkle, to corrugate, undulate, warp, waves), wehen (birth pangs, blow, contraction, drift, fly, labor, labor pains, labour, labour pains, pains, to breeze, waft), schwingen (brandish, fling, flourish, linger, oscillate, pulsate, sway, swing, swung, to oscillate, vibrate, wave about, whisk, wield). (various references) | |
Greek | κύμα (surge, swell, waft). (various references) | |
Hebrew | להתנופף (flutter, swing oneself, toss), להתנוסס (be hoisted, fly, sparkle), להתנפנף (flap, flutter), להסתלסל (become curly, spiral, trill), להניף (brandish, heave, hoist, toss), לסלסל שער, לנופף (brandish, flourish, swing), לנפנף (flag, flap, swing), גל (heap, mound, pile), נפנוף (waving), נחשול (billow, breaker, gale, storm, surf, surge, torrent). (various references) | |
Hungarian | hullámosság (crimp, crispness, undulation), hullám (breaker, to be pooped, water-wave). (various references) | |
Indonesian | & |