test bed

noun

: a vehicle (such as an airplane) used for testing new equipment (such as engines or weapons systems)

broadly : any device, facility, or means for testing something in development

Examples of test bed in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The extreme environment will give researchers an ideal test bed for STEP, or Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production, the prototype commercial plant Britain plans to build in Nottinghamshire. — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 4 Nov. 2026

Power consumption is measured at the wall using a Kill-A-Watt power meter, which displays the test bed's total power in each test. — Michael Justin Allen Sexton, PC Magazine, 3 Oct. 2026

Its technology serves as a sort of cybersecurity test bed for AI models. — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 10 Aug. 2026

This hopper vehicle, likely reminiscent of SpaceX’s Grasshopper test bed, is intended to undergo two tests beginning in 2028. — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 17 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for test bed

• abed
• ahead
• beachhead
• bedspread
• bedstead
• behead
• blackhead
• blockhead
• bloodshed
• bowhead
• breastfed
• bridgehead

Kids Definition

test bed

noun

: a vehicle (as an airplane) used for testing new equipment

also : any device, facility, or means for testing something in development