gravitational wave

noun

: a disturbance in space-time in the form of a wave that propagates the gravitational field

Gravitational waves are a natural offshoot of the rubber-sheet construction of general relativity. Just as a massive object sitting on the fabric of spacetime creates a dimple, so moving or changing objects, under certain conditions, create wrinkles in the fabric. Those wrinkles, tiny distortions in spacetime, zoom away at the speed of light. Because these gravitational waves carry energy, anything emitting them will lose a tiny bit of its speed.

—Science

Examples of gravitational wave in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Hard Science This pair of white dwarfs is spinning out gravitational waves A binary white dwarf in a tight, super-fast rotation looks to be pumping out gravitational waves. —Big Think, 24 June 2024

What makes this interesting is that physicists now have detectors that can spot gravitational waves moving across the universe. —The Physics Arxiv Blog, Discover Magazine, 20 June 2024

An alternative source, the fusion of two compact objects such as neutron stars, would have been detectable using our gravitational wave observatories, but no signal was apparent at this time. —John Timmer, Ars Technica, 24 Apr. 2024

In 2017 scientists observed a neutron star merger for the first time by detecting gravitational waves created by the interaction. —Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 14 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above