Ultraviolet
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Ultraviolet colour. countable, uncountable
- 2 radiation lying in the ultraviolet range; wave lengths shorter than light but longer than X rays wordnet
- 1 Of electromagnetic radiation beyond (higher in frequency than) light visible to the human eye; radiation with wavelengths from 380 to 10 nanometres.
"Micron said in a statement that it would bring extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology to Japan, becoming the first semiconductor company to do so, and expected to invest up to 500 billion yen ($3.6 billion) with support from the Japanese government."
- 2 Relating to very high energies or very small distances or time spans. figuratively
"A one-loop Feynman graph that represents a virtual process. In the limit in which the virtual process involves short distances or high momenta, one may find an ultraviolet divergence in the corresponding amplitude."
- 1 having or employing wavelengths shorter than light but longer than X-rays; lying outside the visible spectrum at its violet end wordnet
Synonyms
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More examples"The sudden increase of ultraviolet rays made the researchers believe in the existence of ozone holes."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Latin ūls Proto-Indo-European *-teros? Latin -ter Old Latin -ād Latin -ā Latin ultrālbor. English ultra- Latin viola Old French -ette Old French violettebor. Middle English violet English violet English ultraviolet From ultra- (“beyond”) + violet (“violet”).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.