transponder
noun
Did you know?
This word was coined during World War II by simply joining pieces of the words transmitter and responder. Transponders are basic to modern aviation and communications satellites, and they're finding new uses in fields such as medicine as well. But they're now also part of everyday life. The "E-ZPass" that lets you drive right through turnpike tollbooths is a transponder, and the car you're driving may not even start unless it recognizes the signal from your personal key's transponder. In a big crowded foot race, you may carry a tiny transponder on your shoe that records when you cross both the starting line and the finish line.
Examples of transponder in a Sentence
Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 May 2025
The agency requires registrations for drones weighing more than 0.55 pounds, and such drones are required to carry a radio transponder that identifies the drone's owner and broadcasts its position to help avert collisions.
—CBS News, 21 Apr. 2025
At the height of the action, when St. Crispin’s Day and her band of misfits deploy the semiotic transponder, a barrage of words that should arrive with a gut-flipping wallop hits more above the neck than below it.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2025
How much guilt is your Misty carrying about breaking the airplane transponder, and is this now her moment of redemption?
—Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 17 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for transponder
Cite this Entry
“Transponder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transponder. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
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