: an instrument for detecting the presence and intensity of radiations (such as cosmic rays or particles from a radioactive substance) by means of their ionizing effect on an enclosed gas which results in a pulse that is amplified and fed to a device giving a visible or audible indication
Examples of Geiger counter in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
There, Knight and Torres find empty hazardous material containers, a very busy Geiger counter, and the melty remains of a man who was injected with a radioactive substance.
—
Sara Netzley, EW.com, 6 May 2025
Dunthorne buys a Geiger counter off the internet and goes to the German town of Oranienburg, the original site of the chemicals lab where Siegfried started work on mustard gas and its antidotes.
—Emma Brockes, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2025
Its solar panel, power cell, and rechargeable batteries provide reliable stand-alone power for a Geiger counter even under emergency conditions.
—IEEE Spectrum, 27 Aug. 2024
One man who was going around with a Geiger counter said that even the air around Giant Rock was jumping with cosmic rays of leftover clouds from the Nevada atom blast, or backwash from space ships.
—Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2024
He was best known for, like, taking a hair clip and a pack of Dentyne and turning into a Geiger counter or something, and somehow this meant Forte stuck celery up his bum.
—Jordan Hoffman, Vulture, 4 Mar. 2024
The laptop crackled like a Geiger counter, reporting unseen traffic overhead.
—Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic, 20 May 2024
The answer could be the equivalent of prewar steel in a Geiger counter: data known to be free (or perhaps as free as possible) from generative AI’s touch.
—Rahul Rao, Scientific American, 28 July 2023
The one that most people are familiar with—mostly from movies—is the Geiger counter, which is also known as the Geiger-Muller counter.
—WIRED, 8 Sep. 2023
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Sara Netzley, EW.com, 6 May 2025
Dunthorne buys a Geiger counter off the internet and goes to the German town of Oranienburg, the original site of the chemicals lab where Siegfried started work on mustard gas and its antidotes.
—Emma Brockes, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2025
Its solar panel, power cell, and rechargeable batteries provide reliable stand-alone power for a Geiger counter even under emergency conditions.
—IEEE Spectrum, 27 Aug. 2024
One man who was going around with a Geiger counter said that even the air around Giant Rock was jumping with cosmic rays of leftover clouds from the Nevada atom blast, or backwash from space ships.
—Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2024
He was best known for, like, taking a hair clip and a pack of Dentyne and turning into a Geiger counter or something, and somehow this meant Forte stuck celery up his bum.
—Jordan Hoffman, Vulture, 4 Mar. 2024
The laptop crackled like a Geiger counter, reporting unseen traffic overhead.
—Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic, 20 May 2024
The answer could be the equivalent of prewar steel in a Geiger counter: data known to be free (or perhaps as free as possible) from generative AI’s touch.
—Rahul Rao, Scientific American, 28 July 2023
The one that most people are familiar with—mostly from movies—is the Geiger counter, which is also known as the Geiger-Muller counter.
—WIRED, 8 Sep. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Geiger counter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Geiger%20counter. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Geiger counter
noun
Gei·ger counter
ˌgī-gər- 
: an instrument for detecting the presence of cosmic rays or radioactive substances
Medical Definition
Geiger counter
noun
Gei·ger count·er
ˈgī-gər-ˌkau̇n-tər
: an instrument for detecting the presence and intensity of radiations (as cosmic rays or particles from a radioactive substance) by means of the ionizing effect on an enclosed gas which results in a pulse that is amplified and fed to a device giving a visible or audible indication
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