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🌊 A moving wave 🧠 Moving brain activity
traveling wave

traveling wave

6.5
A wave that moves through something and carries energy along its path
  • noun
  • /ˈtrævəlɪŋ weɪv/
  • Specialized
translation icon : onda viajera
  • The energy coupled into quiet lines from adjacent active lines has typical traveling-wave properties.
  • traveling wave amplitude
  • tip of the traveling wave
  • amplification of the traveling wave

So if I have this chain and this ring falls, I get a travelling wave going down the chain like that.

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Examples

  • Two sensors, spaced a known distance apart, are required to provide amplitude, phase, and frequency information needed in traveling-wave analysis.

    Academic text (1996)

  • The traveling wave moved swiftly along the surface of the water, creating ripples behind it.

  • And then I can add the traveling wave solutions.

  • So if I have this chain and this ring falls, I get a travelling wave going down the chain like that.

    The Royal Institution

  • Both the amplitude and tip of the traveling wave contribute to the sensitivity and frequency selectivity of the hearing process.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Stimulation of OHCs results in an amplification of the traveling wave, producing a 100-1,000 times higher amplitude and a sharp tip of the traveling wave.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Stimulation of OHCs results in an amplification of the traveling wave, producing a 100-1,000 times higher amplitude and a sharp tip of the traveling wave.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Researchers observed a traveling wave in the medium, demonstrating how disturbances propagate over long distances.

  • As the speaker demonstrated the principles of sound, a traveling wave could be seen moving through the vibrating string.

Surface Forms

traveling wave singular
traveling waves plural
travelling waves plural
travelling wave singular

Morphology

traveling + wave

The phrase straightforwardly combines 'traveling' (moving) and 'wave' (a propagating disturbance) to mean a wave that moves or propagates, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the basic meaning. Although the term is used in a technical neuroscience context with specialized implications, the compositional logic is transparent and cross-linguistically common.

Etymology

Traveling wave comes from the picture of a ripple moving across water or a crowd making a stadium wave. traveling means moving and wave is the ripple, so the phrase describes a disturbance that moves through a material, or 'a wave that moves'.