Other forms: radios, radioed
Radio is sound broadcast through the air — the box on the kitchen counter, the station you listen to in the car, and the technology that makes both possible. On the radio is the fixed phrase, and it always takes the.
It is a noun for the device, a noun for the medium, and a verb meaning to send a message by radio: the ship radioed for help. The medium sense is uncountable — I listen to radio — while the device is countable. Note that radio is also the general word for the wireless transmission used by police, taxis, aircraft and walkie-talkies, which is why radio silence and radio contact belong to a quite different world from Radio 4.
1nounradioA device that receives sound broadcast through the air.~23%
“The radio in the kitchen is older than I am.”
2nounmediumBroadcasting by sound, as a medium.~75%
“She works in radio and has never wanted to be on television.”
3verbsendTo send a message by radio.~2%
“The crew radioed for help at two in the morning.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 17 sentences found in the wild and placed 17 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
radio is a way of broadcasting sound.
Clipping of radiotelegraphy. Short for radiotelegraphy.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA