Bandwidth
//ˈbændwɪdθ// noun, slang
noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The width, usually measured in hertz, of a frequency band. countable, uncountable
"But now is a good time to be bargaining for bandwidth, as the switch from analogue to digital television is freeing up space."
- 2 a data transmission rate; the maximum amount of information (bits/second) that can be transmitted along a channel wordnet
- 3 The width of the smallest frequency band within which the signal can fit. countable, uncountable
- 4 The rate of data flow in digital networks typically measured in bits per second; the bitrate. countable, informal, uncountable
"While comm buoys allow rapid transmission, there is a finite amount of bandwidth available. Given that trillions of people may be trying to pass a message through a given buoy at any one time, access to the network is parceled out on priority tiers."
- 5 The capacity, energy or time required. countable, informal, uncountable
"I think it's a worthy project, but I just don't have the bandwidth right now."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 The minimum, over all orderings of vertices of a given graph, of the length of the longest edge. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"We don't have enough bandwidth to use that service."
Etymology
From band + width.
Related phrases
More for "bandwidth"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.