or antennas
Erich Segal
Did you know?
The Latin word antenna meant “sail yard,” which is the long spar that supports and spreads the sail on a sailing vessel. The Greek word for a sail yard was keraia, but that was only one meaning of this word. The primary meaning was “horn.” The philosopher Aristotle used keraiai to describe the feelers of insects, probably because of their resemblance to the horns of some larger animals. In a Latin translation of Aristotle’s work made during the Renaissance, the word antennae was used for Greek keraiai. In English we still use antennae for insects’ feelers. And now we also use antenna for the metal rods that pick up radio waves and seem to “feel the air” like the antennae of an insect.
Examples of antenna in a Sentence
Roxanne Downer, USA Today, 4 July 2025
In areas above 16,500 feet in elevation, such as where a cluster of ALMA antennas sits on the Chajnantor Plateau, anywhere between 8 and 31 inches of snow might fall over the course of a year.
—Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 July 2025
The spacewalk tasks will include: Assembling a radio frequency group antenna from the station’s truss.
—Andy Humbles, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
The location used to be an electronics store that sold CB radios and TV antennas, Intagliata said.
—Jasmine Mendez, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for antenna
Cite this Entry
“Antenna.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antenna. Accessed 13 Jul. 2025.
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antenna
noun
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