to connect to the internet
- phrasal verb
- /kəˈnɛkt tə ði ˈɪntərˌnɛt/
- Texting
- I want to connect to the internet.
- a device connected to the internet
Phone, however, Oh, that connects to the Internet.
- Phone, however, Oh, that connects to the Internet.
- And the first Bush administration and there the, the number of computers that were connected to the Internet were in the low millions.
- Jack, phones, devices, iPads, anything that is connected to the Internet to a child is like having a third arm.
Examples
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Make sure you're connected to the internet!
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With those organizations, they have an internal IT infrastructure that must never be connected to the internet.
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Every time I click on it, it says I am not connected to the internet when I clearly am.
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Is our air traffic system connected to the internet?
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More and more people are connected to the internet in more and more places at ever higher speeds.
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At the same time, I want to allow users to interact with the Win 8 app even when not connected to the internet.
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As business users increasingly find themselves connecting to the internet away from the office, the cloud and mobile devices grow ever more important.
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But I had trouble getting the Wii U connected to the internet.
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It has Wi-Fi, so I can connect to the Internet here by connecting to the Wi-Fi in the building.
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When you connect to the internet, your device can send and receive data quickly.
Synonyms
Attach something to power or a network so it works
To connect to a computer system or network by logging on
To connect devices or systems so they can work together
To join machines so they can share power or information using wires
Antonyms
To separate something so it is no longer joined, for example remove a cable or turn off power
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'connect' (link/attach) combined with the directional preposition 'to' and 'the Internet' (the global network) yields the meaning 'establish a link to the Internet.' Function words do not obscure the sense and this construction is a common, cross-linguistic technical pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will understand it.
Etymology
Connect to the internet comes from the simple image of joining a device to a big web of computers: the word connect means to join and the internet is that web. Imagine plugging in a cable so your device can 'send or receive information' to others — that's why it means making a device go 'online'.