internet

IN-tur-net/ˈɪn(t)ɚˌnɛt/UKIN-tuh-net/ˈɪntəˌnɛt/

Pluralinternets (some meanings)

Verbinternets, internetting, internetted

7 meanings of internet

Practice

1
global networknoununcountableoften capitalized
The global network formed by linking computer networks together, which carries websites, email, streamed media and the other services people use online.
Rumors about the merger spread across the internet within hours.
Millions of internet users lost access to the site during the outage.
UsageUsually with the: search the internet, read it on the internet (not ~~incorrect: on internet~~). Before a noun, no article: internet users.
Similarweb, net
Note
The capital letter is a matter of style, not meaning: the Internet and the internet name the same worldwide network. Capitals were the rule when it was new; lowercase has since become common, and many style guides now use it in every case.
2
connectionnoununcountable
Access to the internet, or the state of having a working connection to it.
Rural areas often struggle to get reliable internet.
Her apartment came with internet already set up.
UsageUsually without a or the: have internet, free internet; my internet is down means my connection.
Similarbroadband, connectivity
3
go onlineverbcolloquialintransitive
To use the internet, especially to search for information on it.
Ask your cousin to find the cheap tickets; she is the only one in this family who really knows how to internet.
His mother called up the stairs that he had been internetting long enough and should come down and help with dinner.
UsageDoubles the t: internetting, internetted.
Similargoogle, browse, surf, search
Note
Two verbs share this spelling. This one was made from the noun and means going online; the older "interweave" verb comes instead from inter- plus net.

Less common meanings

4
link upverbtransitive or intransitive
To connect a computer, device, or similar equipment into a computer network, especially the internet.
More efficient means of internetting the computers in the system must also be developed.
1975, Malcolm R[oderick] Currie (witness), “Statement of Dr. Malcolm R. Currie, Director, Defense Research and Engineering, Accompanied by…
We are continuing our program of internetting our radar system with that of the Federal Aviation Agency.
1966, Robert S[trange] McNamara (witness), “Statement of the Secretary of Defense”
Similarconnect, network, wire
Note
An engineer's word for wiring systems into one another, and it typically takes with. Robert S. McNamara in 1966 described internetting a radar system with that of the Federal Aviation Agency, and later defense writing speaks of interceptors internetted with radars. The object is often a whole system, such as radars, command centers or computers, and the sense shares its inter- plus net origin with the old "interweave" verb.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
McNamara used internetting in 1966 for linking his radar system with the Federal Aviation Agency's. tile.loc.gov
Later defense writing describes interceptors internetted with radars. en.wiktionary.org
The networking sense shares the older verb's inter- plus net origin. en.wiktionary.org
5
joke prizenounhumorouscountable or uncountable
A made-up point awarded, as a joke, for making an outstanding or very funny post online.
After that perfectly timed pun, someone in the thread awarded her ten internets.
You get an internet for spotting the typo before anyone else did.
UsageUsually counted, often with big numbers: you win or get ten internets, even -100 internets for a bad post.
Note
Usenet posters were trading them by 2008, and the tone stays playful, praise or scolding dressed up as a score.
6
verbarchaictransitive or intransitive
To join or interweave separate things so that together they make up a network.
ARTHROPYRENIA. Mass. Paraphyses loosely branching and internetting or absent; spores 2 to 6-locular, colorless, ovoid or oblong.
1913, Hermann Edward Hasse, “Systematic Treatment”
With 1849 began the organization of the secret societies, which, regulated from Piedmont, internetted the entire southern peninsula.
1862, “The Two Sicilies in 1862. [First Notice.]”, in [Charles Patrick Meehan]
Similarinterweave, link
Note
The verb that came first, built from inter- and net in the sense of making a netting. Nineteenth-century writers used it for anything laced into a web: railroads internetted among cities, secret societies spreading across the southern peninsula, and in Elihu Burritt's phrase, material interests "internetting the great family of nations with the bonds of peace." Today it is archaic and rare, and interweave is the everyday word.
7
noun
A collection of computer networks that exchange data using the Internet Protocol, such as a private intranet.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of internet apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–3, 5

A lowercase spelling of Internet, which is short for internetwork; the verb grew out of the noun.

Meanings 4, 6

Formed from the prefix inter- ('amid, among, between') combined with net, meaning 'to form a netting or network'.

Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

The verb internet is formed from inter- plus net. en.wiktionary.org
The prefix inter- means 'amid, among, between'. en.wiktionary.org
The verb net means 'to form a netting or network'. en.wiktionary.org