noun

• 1Physics
  The maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation, measured from the position of equilibrium.

  ‘the amplitude of alpha rhythms’

  More example sentences

  • ‘waves with amplitudes greater than or equal to 20 mm’
  • ‘Lifetimes and the ratio of initial amplitudes remained constant at all energies.’
  • ‘Vibrations and amplitudes are higher, giving heavier densities at a higher speed.’
  • ‘It keeps its shape, even at large amplitudes, because the speed of waves in the medium depends on frequency in just the right way.’
  • ‘A frequency response of the transmission line is computed based on the measured amplitudes.’
  • ‘To compare the relative amplitudes of the different spectra, it is necessary to normalize the signal.’

  1. 1.1The maximum difference of an alternating electrical current or potential from the average value.
     ‘the detection of signals only a few microvolts in amplitude’
     More example sentences

     • ‘The correlation between changes in the kinetics of synaptic current and quantal amplitude remains strong for the corrected values as well.’
     • ‘Practical researchers are only too aware, however, that the optical output can frequently vary significantly in amplitude and spatial quality from point to point within a crystal.’
     • ‘Isochronal tail current amplitudes were normalized to the maximum amplitude obtained from that oocyte and plotted versus test potential.’
     • ‘This local depolarization is known as an excitatory synaptic potential, and its amplitude is determined by the number of vesicles released from the presynaptic cell.’
     • ‘A problem with evoked potentials is that their amplitude is exceedingly small.’

• 2Astronomy
  The angular distance of a celestial object from the true east or west point of the horizon at rising or setting.

  ‘In contrast, in a binary star system both components emit their own light, making possible much larger amplitudes in the variation of the total light received in our telescopes.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Finally, we evaluate the reliability of the amplitudes and phases determined in the initial study of the star's amplitude and frequency variability.’
  • ‘The star's amplitude is approximately 0.1 magnitude.’

• 3Breadth, range, or magnitude.

  ‘the amplitude of the crime of manslaughter lies beneath murder’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Past the half-mark, it morphs into a more ambitious and complex construction as the strings are given more scope and amplitude, but as they soon retract to the background, the original airy structure returns.’
  • ‘And also, given its magnitude, you know, the amplitude increases greatly with each point on the scale.’
  • ‘During these same thirty years or more, Sam has also become a writer of true amplitude: of outrage and forgiveness, of directness and intelligence, of tenderness and generosity.’
  • ‘There is none of the heft and amplitude of real literature, none of the complexity.’
  • ‘I was ‘stealing’ some movements and gestures but I had a different coordination, different amplitude of movement.’
  • ‘The lyrics have a breadth and amplitude of style that mark no common master of the poet's craft.’
  • ‘What is missing is a certain largeness of mind, an amplitude of style, the mantle of a calling, a sense of historical dignity.’
  • ‘Families, the overlapping and intersecting lines of emotions connecting parents and children, husbands and wives, the ‘dangerous mix-ups’ of domestic life - these are the subjects she returns to in these stories and she delineates them with an old-fashioned amplitude of emotion and language.’

  Synonyms

  magnitude, size, volume, proportions, dimensions

  View synonyms

• 4Mathematics
  The angle between the real axis of an Argand diagram and a vector representing a complex number.

  ‘After covering the basics, he launches into a fairly academic discussion of signal and fourier analysis, and amplitude, angle and pulse modulation and demodulation.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘A sine function has amplitude, phase, period and shift, and you can play tricks with these.’
  • ‘The amplitude of the observed dihedral angle distributions ascertains the flexibility of the secondary structure which never remains flat or adopts a reversed saddle shape.’
  • ‘The same experimental database is analyzed here for distributions of amplitudes and widths.’