HTTP/2 200
date: Wed, 08 Oct 2025 11:24:40 GMT
content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
content-security-policy-report-only: default-src 'self';img-src 'self' data: https://flickr.com https://*.flickr.com https://s.gravatar.com https://s.gravatar.com/avatar https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar https://i1.wp.com/cdn.auth0.com/avatars https://cdn.auth0.com/avatars https://g.stripe.com/ https://ssl.google-analytics.com https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/ https://farm66.static.flickr.com https://www.google-analytics.com https://tpc.googlesyndication.com https://pbs.twimg.com https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net https://*.amazon-adsystem.com https://fundingchoicesmessages.google.com https://*.3lift.com https://ams-pageview-public.s3.amazonaws.com https://www.google.com https://syndication.twitter.com https://image8.pubmatic.com https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net https://*.googleusercontent.com;base-uri 'self';font-src 'self' https: data:;frame-ancestors 'self';frame-src https://js.stripe.com https://platform.twitter.com/ https://syndication.twitter.com/ https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/ https://*.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/ https://www.google.com/ https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/;connect-src 'self' https: https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ppub_config https://bam.nr-data.net/events/1/cb925c8058;object-src none;script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' report-sample https://js.stripe.com/v3/ https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.12.4.min.js https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.4.1.slim.min.js https://code.jquery.com/jquery-migrate-1.4.1.min.js https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/popper.js@1.16.0/dist/umd/popper.min.js https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.4.1/js/bootstrap.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/validate.js/0.13.1/validate.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/underscore.js/1.8.3/underscore-min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/list.js/1.5.0/list.min.js https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js https://www.googletagmanager.com/ https://ssl.google-analytics.com/ga.js https://js-agent.newrelic.com/nr-spa-1184.min.js https://fundingchoicesmessages.google.com https://bam.nr-data.net https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net https://www.googletagservices.com https://adservice.google.com https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/tether/1.4.0/js/tether.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.12.9/umd/popper.min.js https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/clipboard@2.0.8/dist/clipboard.min.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/howler/2.1.1/howler.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/validator/10.9.0/validator.min.js https://*.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/ https://*.googlesyndication.com/ https://platform.twitter.com/js/ https://cdn.ampproject.org https://www.google-analytics.com https://adservice.google.be https://adservice.google.ca https://adservice.google.co.id https://adservice.google.co.mz https://adservice.google.co.th https://adservice.google.co.uk https://adservice.google.co.za https://adservice.google.com.au https://adservice.google.com.ec https://adservice.google.com.hk https://adservice.google.com.ng https://adservice.google.com.np https://adservice.google.com.ph https://adservice.google.com.sa https://adservice.google.de https://adservice.google.es https://adservice.google.fi https://adservice.google.fr https://adservice.google.ie https://adservice.google.it https://adservice.google.lk https://adservice.google.lt https://adservice.google.nl https://adservice.google.no https://adservice.google.rs https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net;script-src-attr none;style-src 'self' https: 'unsafe-inline' report-sample;report-uri https://5f9d927665d1a16209ba908c.endpoint.csper.io
x-dns-prefetch-control: off
expect-ct: max-age=0
x-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN
strict-transport-security: max-age=15552000; includeSubDomains
x-download-options: noopen
x-content-type-options: nosniff
x-permitted-cross-domain-policies: none
referrer-policy: origin-when-cross-origin
x-xss-protection: 0
etag: W/"133f8-SZv+AomyDSYdffRnO9CbTh4U3mY"
set-cookie: cookienik=eyJjc3JmU2VjcmV0IjoiQV8zLUdpM2FoS0lpbkkzQU5GUm03SS1hIn0=; path=/; expires=Sat, 11 Oct 2025 11:24:40 GMT; domain=wordnik.com; secure; httponly
set-cookie: cookienik.sig=YM1RuIcDFXJ5ubenixQ6wxj650U; path=/; expires=Sat, 11 Oct 2025 11:24:40 GMT; domain=wordnik.com; secure; httponly
vary: Accept-Encoding
content-encoding: gzip
diffract - definition and meaning
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
intransitive & transitive verb
from The Century Dictionary.
optics , to break up, as a beam of light, by deflecting it from a right line; deflect. lichenology , broken into distinct areoles separated by chinks.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
transitive verb
from Wiktionary , Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
verb transitive To cause diffraction verb intransitive To undergo diffraction
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Back-formation from diffraction.]
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word diffract .
Examples
These air bubbles diffract light into colors that reflect back in a flash of iridescence.
Birdology Sy Montgomery 2010
Following the experiments of Davisson and Germer and Thomson, scientists showed that all subatomic particles behave like waves: beams of protons and neutrons will diffract off samples of atoms in exactly the same way that electrons do.
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog CHAD ORZEL 2009
A dog can hear a potato chip hitting the kitchen floor from the living room because sound waves diffract through the kitchen door and around corners.
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog CHAD ORZEL 2009
For example if two people stand back-to-back in an open field with no large objects to reflect or diffract the sound waves, they can still hold a conversation.
Optics basics: What is a wave? Part III: Diffraction « Skulls in the Stars 2007
This is why nobody has ever seen a dog diffract around a tree; nor are we likely to see it any time soon.
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog CHAD ORZEL 2009
On the right, a wave with a long wavelength encounters an opening comparable to the wavelength, and the waves diffract through a large range of directions.
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog CHAD ORZEL 2009
We also saw that quantum particles behave like waves—electrons, atoms, and molecules diffract around obstacles and form interference patterns.
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog CHAD ORZEL 2009
Similarly, if sound waves encounter an obstacle like a chair or a tree, they will diffract around it, provided the object is not too much larger than the wavelength.
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog CHAD ORZEL 2009
Material particles have wave nature and can diffract around objects.
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog CHAD ORZEL 2009
As a result, the waves diffract by a large amount, which is why we can hear sounds even around tight corners.
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog CHAD ORZEL 2009
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.