partials
- 1Plural of partial.
The synthesizer lets you adjust the individual partials that make up each note.
Her new partials fit far more comfortably than the old set.
Note
The plural is a regular -s, but it does duty in half a dozen trades. In mathematics, partials are partial derivatives taken one variable at a time. In acoustics, they are the sine waves stacked into a complex tone. To a dentist, they are dentures replacing only some teeth, and to a fingerprint examiner, incomplete prints. Context alone tells them apart, because each field has shortened its own "partial something" to the bare noun.
partials is a form of partial
partial, noun: A dental appliance that replaces some but not all of a person's natural teeth. Full entry
- Forms
- partialpartials plural
- Spelling
- partial → partials: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
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