bandwidth

noun

band·​width ˈband-ˌwidth 

-ˌwitth

1

: a range within a band of wavelengths, frequencies, or energies

especially : a range of radio frequencies which is occupied by a modulated carrier wave, which is assigned to a service, or over which a device can operate

2

: the capacity for data transfer of an electronic communications system

Graphics consume more bandwidth than text does.

especially : the maximum data transfer rate of such a system

a bandwidth of 100 megabits per second

3

: the emotional or mental capacity necessary to do or consider something

I don't have the bandwidth to do it all myself, and I feel like a failure because I'm not living up to my own ideals.

—Frances Lefkowitz

Examples of bandwidth in a Sentence

The modem has a bandwidth of 56 kilobits per second.

Graphics use more bandwidth than text does.

Recent Examples on the Web

Even when faced with limited power and limited bandwidth, the robot can complete its tasks safely using onboard sensors to operate in real time, all within the latency windows described earlier. —Lee-Lean Shu, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026

This approach to text generation shifts the bottleneck from memory bandwidth to compute, generating up to 256 tokens in parallel. —ArsTechnica, 10 June 2026

On the civil side, even one of the greatest examples of professional airmanship in history, US Airways Flight 1549, illustrates the limits of human cognitive bandwidth under extreme pressure. —Tim Burns, Fortune, 9 June 2026

The platform also includes unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, free SSL certificates, SSD-powered hosting, malware scanning, CDN support, backups, and one-click staging environments for testing site updates safely. —Stackcommerce Team, PC Magazine, 6 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1913, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

bandwidth

noun

band·​width ˈband-ˌwidth 

1

: a range of frequencies

2

: the capacity for or rate of data transfer

a high bandwidth Internet connection