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Glite Dictionary
substation

substation

19 4.6
A place where electricity is changed to a lower level so homes and businesses can use it
  • noun
  • /ˈsʌbˌsteɪʃən/
  • Specialized
: subestación
  • The technician inspected the substation to ensure the voltage levels were safe.
  • substation transformer
  • power substations
  • power lines and substations

So most of our load was close to the transmission substations.

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Examples

  • The local substation transforms high voltage electricity for homes in the area.

  • If needed, the capacity of a substation may be increased.

    Academic text (2000)

  • We lost contact with them a few miles away from our substation.

    The Black Hole (2006)

  • I'm about three miles from the substation, General.

    The Black Hole (2006)

  • A substation on the north slope.

    On Deadly Ground (1994)

  • I'm taking him to the nearest substation.

    Green Lantern: First Flight (2009)

  • Each level has three substations, indicated by the yellow lights.

    The Andromeda Strain (1971)

  • Water flooded an electrical substation and backed up power, and backup power was either flooded or insufficient.

  • The flooding of seven substations resulted in the loss of electric power for much of downtown Des Moines.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Floodwater led to explosions that disabled a power substation Monday night, contributing to the outages.

    Blog text (2)

How Powerful

power station
  • UK
31 3.2
substation
  • Specialized
19 4.6
transformer
  • Specialized
34 4.9

Surface Forms

substation singular
substations plural

Morphology

substation = station (transparent) = sub + station

The meaning is directly derived from the productive prefix 'sub-' (secondary/under) plus 'station', yielding 'a subsidiary station'.

Etymology

Substation is made of the prefix sub- meaning 'under' or 'secondary' and station meaning a 'place' or 'building'. So a substation is like a smaller 'station' that works under the main power system to change electrical voltage for local homes and businesses.