DIFFRACTION

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

Meaning:

When light passes sharp edges or goes through narrow slits the rays are deflected and produce fringes of light and dark bands

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("diffraction" is a kind of...):

optical phenomenon (a physical phenomenon related to or involving light)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "diffraction"):

X-ray diffraction (the scattering of X rays by the atoms of a crystal; the diffraction pattern shows structure of the crystal)

Derivation:

diffract (undergo diffraction)