radio frequency

noun

: any of the electromagnetic wave frequencies that lie in the range extending from below 3 kilohertz to about 300 gigahertz and that include the frequencies used for communications signals (as for radio and television broadcasting and cell-phone and satellite transmissions) or radar signals

Examples of radio frequency in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Providing this timely, accurate, and essential information was possible only because journalists possessed radios that could scan open and transparent NYPD and other emergency services radio frequencies. —David Donovan, New York Daily News, 22 May 2024

Others have the ability to detect radio frequency emissions; observe vehicle movements and nuclear cooling plumes; and operate at night, in cloudy weather, or through dense vegetation and camouflage. —Amy Zegart, Foreign Affairs, 20 Dec. 2022

HBTs can handle high-frequency signals (up to several thousand gigahertz) and are commonly used in radio frequency systems, including RF power amplifiers in cell phones. —IEEE Spectrum, 28 May 2024

Different key fobs in different countries can operate at different radio frequencies. —Lucas Ropek / Gizmodo, Quartz, 13 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1915, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

radio frequency

noun

: any of the electromagnetic wave frequencies between about 3 kilohertz and 300 gigahertz that are used especially in radio and television transmission and in radar

Medical Definition

radio frequency

noun

: any of the electromagnetic wave frequencies that lie in a range extending from below 3 kilohertz to about 300 gigahertz and that include the frequencies used for communications signals (as for radio and television broadcasting and cell-phone transmissions) or radar signals

—often hyphenated when used before another noun

radio-frequency waves