sine wave
noun
: a waveform that represents periodic oscillations in which the amplitude of displacement at each point is proportional to the sine of the phase angle of the displacement and that is visualized as a sine curve : sine curve
also : a wave so represented
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Students learn that a wave can oscillate only as fast as its highest-frequency sine wave component. 
Katie Mccormick, Quanta Magazine, 16 May 2022 The sine wave is a smooth, periodic undulation, a mathematical idealization of waves found in nature: energetic seismic waves produced by earthquakes; sonic booms propagating through air; tsunamis spreading across water. New York Times, 14 Sep. 2021 For the athletes whose recovery looked less like continuous, linear growth and more like a sine wave, Wenger didn’t hold them to a structured protocol. Olivia Reiner, USA TODAY, 20 July 2021 His life, with its abrupt end, doesn’t fit into the modified sine wave the formula demands — humble beginnings, slow rise, peak success, fall, then redemption or a reaffirming of legacy. Alison Willmore, Vulture, 16 July 2021 The pure sine wave inverter can also provide up to 3,600 watts for peak bursts. Jim Rossman, Dallas News, 1 Apr. 2021 The inverter produces pure sine wave energy, which is clean power with less electrical noise. Jim Rossman, Dallas News, 17 Feb. 2021 That’s the heart of the metacrisis, a pulsing, elastic, exponential sine wave from Big Bang peak to Big Crunch trough. Adam Rogers, Wired, 11 Feb. 2021 Typical generators have varying degrees of distortion in the sine wave of the alternating current. Bradley Ford, Popular Mechanics, 9 Dec. 2020 See More
Katie Mccormick, Quanta Magazine, 16 May 2022 The sine wave is a smooth, periodic undulation, a mathematical idealization of waves found in nature: energetic seismic waves produced by earthquakes; sonic booms propagating through air; tsunamis spreading across water. New York Times, 14 Sep. 2021 For the athletes whose recovery looked less like continuous, linear growth and more like a sine wave, Wenger didn’t hold them to a structured protocol. Olivia Reiner, USA TODAY, 20 July 2021 His life, with its abrupt end, doesn’t fit into the modified sine wave the formula demands — humble beginnings, slow rise, peak success, fall, then redemption or a reaffirming of legacy. Alison Willmore, Vulture, 16 July 2021 The pure sine wave inverter can also provide up to 3,600 watts for peak bursts. Jim Rossman, Dallas News, 1 Apr. 2021 The inverter produces pure sine wave energy, which is clean power with less electrical noise. Jim Rossman, Dallas News, 17 Feb. 2021 That’s the heart of the metacrisis, a pulsing, elastic, exponential sine wave from Big Bang peak to Big Crunch trough. Adam Rogers, Wired, 11 Feb. 2021 Typical generators have varying degrees of distortion in the sine wave of the alternating current. Bradley Ford, Popular Mechanics, 9 Dec. 2020 See More Word History
First Known Use
1893, in the meaning defined above