Geiger counter

noun

Gei·​ger counter ˈgī-gər- How to pronounce Geiger counter (audio)
: an instrument for detecting the presence and intensity of radiations (such as cosmic rays or particles from a radioactive substance) by means of their ionizing effect on an enclosed gas which results in a pulse that is amplified and fed to a device giving a visible or audible indication

Examples of Geiger counter in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web One man who was going around with a Geiger counter said that even the air around Giant Rock was jumping with cosmic rays of leftover clouds from the Nevada atom blast, or backwash from space ships. Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2024 He was best known for, like, taking a hair clip and a pack of Dentyne and turning into a Geiger counter or something, and somehow this meant Forte stuck celery up his bum. Jordan Hoffman, Vulture, 4 Mar. 2024 The laptop crackled like a Geiger counter, reporting unseen traffic overhead. Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic, 20 May 2024 The answer could be the equivalent of prewar steel in a Geiger counter: data known to be free (or perhaps as free as possible) from generative AI’s touch. Rahul Rao, Scientific American, 28 July 2023 The one that most people are familiar with—mostly from movies—is the Geiger counter, which is also known as the Geiger-Muller counter. WIRED, 8 Sep. 2023 There were visible-light cameras, ultrasensitive microphones, spectrum analyzers and other sensors, including a Geiger counter, all of it connected to the cloud, where machine-learning algorithms would scan the data for anything unusual. Seth Fletcher, New York Times, 24 Aug. 2023 Compton received his Nobel Prize in 1927, shared with a pair of German scientists—one of whom would invent the Geiger counter. Brendan McAleer, Car and Driver, 22 July 2023 One of the earliest examples of using sound to represent data is the dosimeter, or Geiger counter. Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Geiger counter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Hans Geiger †1945 German physicist

First Known Use

1924, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Geiger counter was in 1924

Dictionary Entries Near Geiger counter

Cite this Entry

“Geiger counter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Geiger%20counter. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

Geiger counter

noun
Gei·​ger counter ˌgī-gər- How to pronounce Geiger counter (audio)
: an instrument for detecting the presence of cosmic rays or radioactive substances

Medical Definition

Geiger counter

noun
Gei·​ger count·​er ˈgī-gər-ˌkau̇n-tər How to pronounce Geiger counter (audio)
: an instrument for detecting the presence and intensity of radiations (as cosmic rays or particles from a radioactive substance) by means of the ionizing effect on an enclosed gas which results in a pulse that is amplified and fed to a device giving a visible or audible indication
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