rated voltage
- noun
- Specialized
- Using electrical equipment beyond its rated voltage can lead to serious malfunctions.
Examples
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To ensure safety, always operate the device within its rated voltage limits.
-
Use it outside the rated voltage and there will be death and destruction.
-
The manufacturer specifies a rated voltage to prevent damage during operation.
Antonyms
How High
Surface Forms
Morphology
rated + voltage
The meaning is directly compositional: 'rated' conveys an assigned or specified rating and 'voltage' is electric potential, so 'rated voltage' straightforwardly means the voltage a device is specified/authorized to handle. Although technical, this adjective+noun pattern follows normal English composition and similar phrasing exists in other languages, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.
Etymology
The term rated voltage comes from the idea of a label that shows a safe limit for a device: rated means given a 'limit' and voltage is the electric 'pressure' that pushes the current. So, rated voltage is the marked maximum electric pressure a device can safely handle.