Maser

//ˈmeɪzɚ// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    a device for the coherent amplification or generation of electromagnetic radiation (especially of microwave frequency) by the use of excitation energy in resonant atomic or molecular systems
  2. 2
    Obsolete spelling of mazer. alt-of, countable, obsolete, uncountable
  3. 3
    Acronym of microwave amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
  4. 4
    an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation; an amplifier that works on the same principle as a laser and emits coherent microwave radiation wordnet
  5. 5
    Any celestial object that generates microwaves using the same method

Synonyms

All synonyms
graser

Example

More examples

"A laser fires a light beam. Before the laser, scientists developed a similar device: a maser which stands for Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. A maser is basically a microwave version of the laser. Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation similar to, but shorter than, radio waves. The best-known use of masers is in highly accurate clocks."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From MASER, acronym of microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

Etymology 2

See mazer.

Related phrases

astronomical masergas maserhydrogen maser atomic clockoptical masersolid-state maserelectromagnetic radiationexcitation energy

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.