hardware
noun
hard·ware
ˈhärd-ˌwer 
1
: ware (such as fittings, cutlery, tools, utensils, or parts of machines) made of metal
2
: major items of equipment or their components used for a particular purpose
educational hardware
: such as
a
: military equipment
b
: the physical components (such as electronic and electrical devices) of a vehicle (such as a spacecraft) or an apparatus (such as a computer)
3
: an award (such as a trophy, medal, or cup) given in a sports competition
Examples of hardware in a Sentence
She bought some new hardware for her system.
gathered together the hardware needed to set up a first aid station at the finish line for the marathon
Recent Examples on the Web
Essentially, this bottleneck refers to a point in hardware or software where performance is limited by the slowest components, restricting overall speed.
—
Matthew S Williams, Interesting Engineering, 5 Feb. 2026
Scott Eells | Bloomberg | Getty Images Networking hardware maker Ciena will join the S&P 500, returning to the benchmark after getting booted 17 years ago.
—Jordan Novet, CNBC, 5 Feb. 2026
Cloud computing giants such as Microsoft and Google are buying up memory hardware at data-center scale to build out AI clusters, tightening the supply for everyone else.
—Eric Sullivan, Scientific American, 5 Feb. 2026
Instead of mining crypto, companies are starting to pivot, according to Bloomberg, allocating their hardware to powering AI models instead of mining crypto.
—Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 5 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hardware
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Matthew S Williams, Interesting Engineering, 5 Feb. 2026
Scott Eells | Bloomberg | Getty Images Networking hardware maker Ciena will join the S&P 500, returning to the benchmark after getting booted 17 years ago.
—Jordan Novet, CNBC, 5 Feb. 2026
Cloud computing giants such as Microsoft and Google are buying up memory hardware at data-center scale to build out AI clusters, tightening the supply for everyone else.
—Eric Sullivan, Scientific American, 5 Feb. 2026
Instead of mining crypto, companies are starting to pivot, according to Bloomberg, allocating their hardware to powering AI models instead of mining crypto.
—Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 5 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hardware
Cite this Entry
“Hardware.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hardware. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
hardware
noun
hard·ware
ˈhär-ˌdwa(ə)r
-ˌdwe(ə)r
1
: articles (as fittings, cutlery, tools, utensils, or parts of machines) made of metal
2
: the equipment used for a particular purpose
computer hardware
military hardware
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