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voltage

UK/ˈvəʊltɪd͡ʒ/US/ˈvoʊltɪd͡ʒ/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,582 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: voltages

Voltage is the electrical pressure pushing power through a wire. Mains voltage, high voltage, check the voltage.

The water analogy holds well: voltage is the pressure and current is the flow, and it is current that kills rather than voltage alone — which is why a static shock at very high voltage is harmless. It is named after Alessandro Volta, who built the first battery.

Lead holder · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of voltage

  1. 1nounvoltageThe electrical pressure pushing power through a wire.B2+

    “Don't touch those cables; the voltage is high enough to kill you.”

voltage is an electrical measure.

Where it comes from

Volt plus -age, from Alessandro Volta, the Italian physicist who built the first electric battery in 1800.

  1. Italian

    Volta

  2. English

    volt

  3. English, today

    voltage

From volt + age, ultimately derived from the name of Alessandro Volta, inventor of the modern battery. volt named after Alessandro Volta. For the surname, see Italian Volta.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Science & Space

Practise this word

voltage in the wild

  • Since voltage is the difference in electric potential, it is a physical scalar quantity.

    Voltage

  • A voltmeter can be used to measure the voltage between two points in a system.

    Voltage

  • To increase the efficiency of long-distance electric power transmission, the voltage is often increased for transmission, then reduced for local distribution.

    Electric power transmission

  • A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) system uses direct current (DC) and high voltages for electric power transmission.

    High-voltage direct current

  • Depending on the type of alternating current supply and the arrangement of the rectifier circuit, the output voltage may require additional smoothing to produce a uniform steady voltage.

    Rectifier

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the Volta family

voltagevolley

voltage — used about once every 2,009 pages · #6,582 · point at the bar for the others