microphone

noun

mi·​cro·​phone ˈmī-krə-ˌfōn How to pronounce microphone (audio)
: an instrument whereby sound waves are caused to generate or modulate an electric current usually for the purpose of transmitting or recording sound (such as speech or music)
microphonic
ˌmī-krə-ˈfä-nik How to pronounce microphone (audio)
adjective

Examples of microphone in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
There's a button to turn on Bluetooth connectivity and a switch to mute the microphone. —PCMAG, 12 Nov. 2024 Holding up a phone to the microphone, a pre-recorded Pfeiffer then introduced members of The Marching Cobras marching ensemble, a reference to a 2019 work of the artist’s at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. —Sam Falb, Vogue, 4 Nov. 2024 Celebrate those who have left their mark by speaking boldly into the microphone. —Luann Gibbs, The Enquirer, 3 Nov. 2024 Wilson then began reading the list into her microphone. —Toria Sheffield, People.com, 2 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for microphone 

Word History

Etymology

micro- + Greek -phōnos "having a sound (of the kind or number specified)," derivative of phōnḗ "sound made by something living, voice, speech, utterance" — more at phono-

Note: The first use of a compound with these Greek elements in English or any other language appears to have been in an essay by the English-born Church of Ireland cleric Narcissus Marsh (1638-1713): "As Microscopes or Magnifying Glasses, help the Eye to see near Objects, that by reason of their smallness were Invisible before; which Objects they Magnify to a strange greatness: so Microphones or Microacousticks, that is, Magnifying Ear Instruments may be contriv'd after that manner, that they shall render the most minute Sound in nature distinctly Audible, by Magnifying it to an unconceivable loudness" ("An introductory Essay to the Doctrine of Sounds, containing some proposals for the improvement of Acousticks," Philosophical Transactions [of the Royal Society], vol. 14, no. 156, February 20, 1684, p. 482). Marsh clearly based the coinage on microscope (with earlier telescope), but as a piece of word formation it is not entirely successful, given that the Greek elements, if interpreted literally, would mean "having a small sound/voice," not hearing or amplifying a sound. (A better alternative might have been megaphone entry 1, coined centuries later.) Marsh's microphone was a more or less theoretical device, and the word, which occurs sporadically thereafter, might have passed into oblivion. It was taken up again, however, by the British inventor Charles Wheatstone (1802-75), who described a purely acoustic device for transmitting sound as a microphone ("Experiments on Audition," The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and Art, July to December, 1827, p. 69). Following Wheatstone, the British-American inventor David Edward Hughes (1831-1900) applied microphone to an electric transmitter using carbon to magnify sound ("On the Action of Sonorous Vibrations in varying the Force of an Electric Current," Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, vol. 27 [1878], p. 365), a use perhaps impelled by telephone,

First Known Use

1878, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of microphone was in 1878

Phrases Containing microphone

Dictionary Entries Near microphone

microphage

microphone

microphonics

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Microphone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/microphone. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.

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Kids Definition

microphone

noun
mi·​cro·​phone ˈmī-krə-ˌfōn How to pronounce microphone (audio)
: an instrument in which sound energy is changed into electrical energy usually for the purpose of transmitting or recording sound (as speech or music)

Medical Definition

microphone

noun
mi·​cro·​phone ˈmī-krə-ˌfōn How to pronounce microphone (audio)
: an instrument whereby sound waves are caused to generate or modulate an electric current usually for the purpose of transmitting or recording sound (as speech or music)

More from Merriam-Webster on microphone

Nglish: Translation of microphone for Spanish Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about microphone

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