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✅ To correct 🔌 To convert electricity 📏 To measure length 🧪 To purify
to rectify

to rectify

1 7.6
To change alternating current into direct current
  • verb
  • /ˈrɛktɪˌfaɪ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : rectificar
  • The envelope signal was filtered (low, 20 Hz; high, 1 kHz), rectified, and integrated over 0.5 s.
  • rectify a voltage signal

Examples

  • The sEMG signals were full-wave rectified, and any DC offset was removed from each sample.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Their scheme was based on a series of capacitors and diodes that rectified AC to DC.

    Academic text (2012)

  • And then we will have diodes on the board to turn the AC into DC to rectify it into DC.

  • Further, since the PV output displaces utility current that would have to be rectified, there is also a small efficiency gain there.

    Academic text (1994)

  • The EMG signal was rectified and anti-alias filtered at 250 Hz, then digitized to 12-bit resolution, and finally recorded by the computer.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The digitally collected electromyographic data were rectified, integrated, and reported as a percentage of the EMG recorded during a maximal manual muscle test (%MMT).

    Academic text (1990)

  • The circuit uses diodes to rectify the alternating current into direct current for the power supply.

  • To ensure the devices operate correctly, engineers must rectify the AC output before it reaches the battery.

  • In solar energy systems, inverters are essential because they rectify the alternating current generated by the panels.

Surface Forms

rectify infinitive
rectified past
rectified past participle
rectifying present participle
rectifies third person singular

Morphology

rectify = rect + ify

The electrical sense 'convert alternating current into direct current' is a specialized technical extension of 'make straight/direct' and is unlikely to be derived by learners from the morphemes alone.

Etymology

Rectify uses the Latin root rect- meaning 'straight' or 'right', and a helpful way to remember the electrical use is to think of 'making the flow straight'. So to rectify AC is to change the alternating flow into one steady, 'direct' direction.