atomic clock
noun
: a precision clock that depends for its operation on an electrical oscillator regulated by the natural vibration frequencies of an atomic system (such as a beam of cesium atoms)
Examples of atomic clock in a Sentence
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The atomic clock, which uses cesium atoms to measure the exact length of a second, is used for GPS satellite networks, data centers, laboratories, aerospace, telecommunications, power generation and other systems that require ultra-precise timekeeping.
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Lauren Penington, Denver Post, 21 Dec. 2025
All of the atomic clocks continued ticking through the power outage last week thanks to their battery backup systems, according to NIST supervisory research physicist Jeff Sherman.
—Joe Hernandez, NPR, 21 Dec. 2025
Physicists at the University of Toronto have developed the world’s first cryogenic single-ion optical atomic clock, a next-generation instrument that could be 100 times more accurate than the clocks currently used to define the length of a second.
—Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 17 Nov. 2025
Scientists first started cooling atoms down in an effort to make better atomic clocks back in the 1970s.
—IEEE Spectrum, 24 Sep. 2025
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Lauren Penington, Denver Post, 21 Dec. 2025
All of the atomic clocks continued ticking through the power outage last week thanks to their battery backup systems, according to NIST supervisory research physicist Jeff Sherman.
—Joe Hernandez, NPR, 21 Dec. 2025
Physicists at the University of Toronto have developed the world’s first cryogenic single-ion optical atomic clock, a next-generation instrument that could be 100 times more accurate than the clocks currently used to define the length of a second.
—Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 17 Nov. 2025
Scientists first started cooling atoms down in an effort to make better atomic clocks back in the 1970s.
—IEEE Spectrum, 24 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for atomic clock
Cite this Entry
“Atomic clock.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atomic%20clock. Accessed 27 Dec. 2025.
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