battery
/ˈbæt.əɹi/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.52 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A device used to power electric devices, consisting of one or more electrically connected electrochemical cells or (archaically) electrostatic cells.
Countable
noun
A device used to power electric devices, consisting of one or more electrically connected electrochemical cells or (archaically) electrostatic cells.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The infliction of unlawful physical violence on a person, legally distinguished from assault, which involves the threat of impending violence.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "alkaline battery"
- "sodium-ion battery"
- "lead-acid battery"
- "His flashlight takes two AA batteries."
- "His car takes a 550-CCA lead-acid battery."
- "For GMRS [General Mobile Radio Service], rechargeable packs alone do not provide the flexibility that user replaceable batteries can. For instance, once the pack is discharged, it must be placed in the charger and recharged, which can take from one to several hours, leaving you unable to use your radio until the pack is recharged unless you have purchased an extra pack. Extra battery packs are bulky and pricey. With radios using replaceable AA and AAA batteries, you never have to worry about recharging or buying extra packs. You can carry charged replacement batteries in your pocket, purse, or bag, and in an emergency you can even go to a store and buy some alkaline batteries so you can be up and running again."
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French batterie, from Old French baterie (“action of beating”), from batre (“beat”), from Latin battuō (“beat”), from Gaulish. Doublet of batterie. By surface analysis, batter + -y. The electrical sense was coined by American polymath Benjamin Franklin by analogy with a military battery that his series of Leyden jars resembled.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbæt.əɹi/
- British English: /ˈbæt.(ə)ɹi/
Usage
Inflected Forms
batteries (plural)
the Battery (canonical)