"P-wave" meaning in English

See P-wave in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: P-waves [plural], P wave [alternative]
Etymology: From p(rimary) + wave. Head templates: {{en-noun|head=P-wave}} P-wave (plural P-waves)
  1. (geology, seismology) A longitudinal compressional wave produced by an earthquake. Synonyms: seismic wave Related terms: S-wave

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From p(rimary) + wave.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "P-waves",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "P wave",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "P-wave"
      },
      "expansion": "P-wave (plural P-waves)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Geology",
          "orig": "en:Geology",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Seismology",
          "orig": "en:Seismology",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
              7
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 71:",
          "text": "P-waves are the first to arrive; that is, they travel fastest. These are ‘push-pull’ waves analogous to sound waves, in which each particle moves back and forth as the waves propagate.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A longitudinal compressional wave produced by an earthquake."
      ],
      "id": "en-P-wave-en-noun-3~we~hbE",
      "links": [
        [
          "geology",
          "geology"
        ],
        [
          "seismology",
          "seismology"
        ],
        [
          "longitudinal",
          "longitudinal"
        ],
        [
          "compressional",
          "compressional"
        ],
        [
          "wave",
          "wave"
        ],
        [
          "earthquake",
          "earthquake"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(geology, seismology) A longitudinal compressional wave produced by an earthquake."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "S-wave"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "seismic wave"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "geography",
        "geology",
        "natural-sciences",
        "seismology"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "P-wave"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From p(rimary) + wave.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "P-waves",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "P wave",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "P-wave"
      },
      "expansion": "P-wave (plural P-waves)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "S-wave"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Geology",
        "en:Seismology"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
              7
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 71:",
          "text": "P-waves are the first to arrive; that is, they travel fastest. These are ‘push-pull’ waves analogous to sound waves, in which each particle moves back and forth as the waves propagate.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A longitudinal compressional wave produced by an earthquake."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "geology",
          "geology"
        ],
        [
          "seismology",
          "seismology"
        ],
        [
          "longitudinal",
          "longitudinal"
        ],
        [
          "compressional",
          "compressional"
        ],
        [
          "wave",
          "wave"
        ],
        [
          "earthquake",
          "earthquake"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(geology, seismology) A longitudinal compressional wave produced by an earthquake."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "geography",
        "geology",
        "natural-sciences",
        "seismology"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "seismic wave"
    }
  ],
  "word": "P-wave"
}

Download raw JSONL data for P-wave meaning in English (1.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-19 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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