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Glite Dictionary
🔊 A high pitch 📻 A radio band
high frequency

high frequency

1 4.6
A range of radio waves used to communicate over long distances
  • noun
  • /haɪ ˈfriːkwənsi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : alta frecuencia
  • Another, Sen. Ed Markey, ranking member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, called for a probe into high-frequency trading, suggesting, "Wall Street computers are effectively running our oil markets."
  • high-frequency radio
  • high-frequency radio waves
  • high-frequency signal

Examples

  • In January 2003, Ita was deployed to Iraq, working on high frequency radios for long-distance communications.

  • This is a real improvement, which means that the rise of high-frequency trading had genuinely beneficial effects between, say, 2002 and 2007.

    Blog text (15)

  • The Ontario had told her they wouldn't be able to receive any high frequency signals, which meant no voice communication.

  • So things like trees and walls and buildings block and disrupt the high frequency signal even if you're still close to it.

  • If the economics of high-frequency trading means that fiber-optic cables get laid under the Arctic Ocean, that's good for everybody.

    Blog text (15)

  • Terry operates a high frequency radio to contact people all over the United States and around the globe.

  • Most of this network of stations targets long-range high frequency radio signals for effective broadcasting.

Synonyms

HF
vshigh frequency
  • Specialized
5 6.4

Radio frequencies between 3 and 30 megahertz that carry signals for long-distance communication

is the full spelled out name for that same radio band

Antonyms

low frequency
  • Specialized
2 4.9

A radio frequency between 30 and 300 kilohertz used for communication

How High

ultrahigh frequency
  • Specialized
1 4.6
high frequency
  • Specialized
1 4.6
medium frequency
  • Specialized
4.8
low frequency
  • Specialized
2 4.9

Surface Forms

high frequency singular
high frequencies plural

Morphology

high + frequency

The meaning is directly compositional: 'high' modifies 'frequency' to indicate a relatively large/rapid rate or a portion of the frequency spectrum, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the general sense. Although the precise technical range (3–30 MHz) is specialist knowledge, the basic idea of a 'high frequency' band is transparently derived from the constituents and is cross-linguistically predictable.

Etymology

High frequency in radio comes from high and frequency: frequency means how often a wave repeats and high means 'more' of those repeats. Think of fast radio waves that repeat many times each second and can bounce off a high layer of the sky to reach far places, so the term means 'a radio band used for long-distance communication'.