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

Crsbr opens design options The researchers measured conversion across a microwave bandwidth of roughly 300 megahertz. — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 18 Sep. 2026

What This Means For Founders Founders often don’t have the budget or bandwidth to hire six different marketing roles right away. — Jake Lee, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2026

Meanwhile, extra bandwidth starts at $30 per month for an extra 50GB. — Jordan Minor, PC Magazine, 14 Sep. 2026

Bullish long-term forecasts from fellow Club names Nvidia and Broadcom reinforced that demand for AI chips remains supply-constrained, another positive read-through for the high-bandwidth memory and DRAM, or dynamic random-access memory. — Alexa Lomonaco, CNBC, 10 Sep. 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