different between microphone vs omnidirectional

English

Etymology

From micro- +? -phone.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?ma?.k???fo?n/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?ma?.k???f??n/

Noun

microphone (plural microphones)

1. A device (transducer) used to convert sound waves into a varying electric current; normally fed into an amplifier and either recorded or broadcast.
   • 1965: Charles McDowell, Campaign Fever: The National Folk Festival, from New Hampshire to November, 1964, page 11 (Morrow)

     Behind the tangled garden of microphones that had sprouted on the lectern, Goldwater spoke softly and casually about his family.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:microphone.

Usage notes

• Metaphors for many microphones (such as can be observed at a press conference) include garden of microphones and sea of microphones. Wall of microphones is used both figuratively (of a group of reporters) and literally (a wall covered with microphones).

Synonyms

• (transducer of sound waves to electricity): mic, mike

Derived terms

• multimicrophone

Descendants

• ? Cantonese: ???
• ? Mandarin: ???
• ? Korean: ????? (maikeuropon)
• ? Lao: ???????? (mai kh?n f?n)
• ? Thai: ???????? (mai-kroo-foon)

Translations

Verb

microphone (third-person singular simple present microphones, present participle microphoning, simple past and past participle microphoned)

1. (transitive) To put one or more microphones on or in.

Synonyms

• mike, mike up, bug (if covert), wire up

Anagrams

• neomorphic, pheromonic

French

Etymology

micro- +? -phone.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.k??.f?n/

Noun

microphone m (plural microphones)

1. microphone

   Synonym: micro

Derived terms

• micro

Descendants

• ? Turkish: mikrofon

Further reading

• “microphone” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

omni- +? directional

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: om?ni?dir?ec?tion?al

Adjective

omnidirectional (not comparable)

1. In every direction, especially of a radio system capable of transmitting or receiving signals in all directions, or of a microphone capable of detecting sound from all directions.

   An omnidirectional radio beacon.

2. (physics, electrical engineering) Having a ring-shaped radiation pattern, with equal radiation in all azimuthal directions.
   • 2004, Harold Davis, Absolute Beginner's Guide to Wi-Fi Wireless Networking, Que Publishing ?ISBN, page 227

     The radiation pattern of an omnidirectional antenna looks like a doughnut, with the antenna in the center of the doughnut, as depicted in Figure 17.1.

Usage notes

Because true omnidirectionality is impossible for individual antennas, omnidirectional is generally used in electrical engineering contexts to refer to antennas that can receive signals in all directions in the azimuthal plane. In these contexts, a hypothetical antenna that radiates in all directions equally is called isotropic.

Antonyms

• unidirectional

Translations

See also

• isotropic

References