fidelity
noun
Did you know?
Have a Little Faith in Fidelity
Fidelity came to English by way of French in the 15th century, and can ultimately be traced back to the Latin fidēlis, meaning "faithful, loyal, trustworthy." While fidelity was originally exclusively about loyalty, it has for centuries also been used to refer to accuracy, as in “questions about the fidelity of the translation.” Nowadays fidelity is often used in reference to recording and broadcast devices, conveying the idea that a broadcast or recording is "faithful" to the live sound or picture that it reproduces.
Examples of fidelity in a Sentence
Laura Shapiro, New York Times Book Review, 12 Dec. 2004
It is a world familiar to all children, and it is this fidelity to child life that gives resonance to Hoffmann's tale and makes it an extraordinary work of art.
—Maurice Sendak, Caldecott & Co., 1988
Chaucer's patient Griselda proved her fidelity to her husband by resisting the prodigious reasons he gave her for being unfaithful.
—B. F. Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, 1971
music with much higher fidelity than on cassettes
they have never wavered in their fidelity to the cause of freedom
Literary Hub, 24 June 2025
Unlike other sharks that roam vast distances, great hammerheads display strong site fidelity to certain coastal habitats, particularly during juvenile stages.
—Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes.com, 19 June 2025
These cans offer superb audio fidelity, along with class-leading noise cancellation, which is great if dad is a jet-setter—or even if his household is just a bit chaotic.
—Ars Staff, ArsTechnica, 13 June 2025
One of biggest remaining hurdles is improving gate fidelities across the device.
—IEEE Spectrum, 10 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for fidelity
Cite this Entry
“Fidelity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fidelity. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fidelity
noun
Legal Definition
fidelity
noun
Share