gravitational wave

noun

|Updated on: 12 Jun 2018

Definition of gravitational wave

: a disturbance in space-time in the form of a wave that propagates the gravitational field

Gravitational waves are a natural offshoot of the rubber-sheet construction of general relativity. Just as a massive object sitting on the fabric of spacetime creates a dimple, so moving or changing objects, under certain conditions, create wrinkles in the fabric. Those wrinkles, tiny distortions in spacetime, zoom away at the speed of light. Because these gravitational waves carry energy, anything emitting them will lose a tiny bit of its speed.
—Science

Recent Examples of gravitational wave from the Web

Yes, there have been some remarkable findings, including the 2012 discovery of the Higgs Boson and the discovery of gravitational waves four years later.

— dan falk /, NBC News, "Why some scientists say physics has gone off the rails," 2 June 2018
His idea was elegant but impractical: nobody at the time could detect gravitational waves.

— davide castelvecchi, Scientific American, "Here Come the Waves," 23 Apr. 2018
That pre-merger spiral had been going on for much longer than that, emitting gravitational waves with much lower frequencies.

— chris lee, Ars Technica, "LISA pathfinder mission a glorious success," 12 Feb. 2018
Weiss and Caltech professor emeriti Kip Thorne and Barry Barish were involved in detecting gravitational waves created after two black holes collided 1.3 billion light-years away.

— wilborn p. nobles iii, NOLA.com, "Nobel laureate Rainer Weiss to speak at LSU science school graduation," 8 May 2018
These also predict that gravitational waves propagate more slowly than light.

— katia moskvitch, WIRED, "Troubled Times for Alternatives to Einstein’s Theory of Gravity," 6 May 2018
The gravitational wave first reached Italy’s just-finished detector, Advanced Virgo, before stretching and squeezing the two LIGO observatories in the United States.

— eric betz, Discover Magazine, "Astronomers See and Hear the Cosmos," 29 Dec. 2017
For example, the discovery of gravitational waves (ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein 100 years ago) was made possible by beaming two lasers into space to detect tiny fluctuations in space-time.

— hannah osborne, Newsweek, "World’s Sharpest Laser Created by Scientists Can Travel 2 Million Miles Before It Falters," 30 June 2017
In 2016, the discovery of gravitational waves — subtle ripples in the fabric of spacetime — was another confirmation of general relativity.

— NBC News, "What is relativity? Einstein's mind-bending theory explained," 13 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gravitational wave.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.