pulsed

1. 1
   adjective

   Delivered or produced in short, separated bursts rather than as a continuous flow.

   Like a strobe light flashing in bursts rather than a lamp glowing steadily.

   The surgeon used a pulsed laser to remove the damaged tissue.

   Pulsed signals carry information in regular, evenly spaced bursts.

   Oppositecontinuous

   Note

   A participle that settled into an adjective, drawn from the verb's technical side: to pulse a current or wave is to emit it in bursts, so a pulsed laser or pulsed signal is one handled that way. It does not grade, so nothing is more pulsed than something else. It usually stands before its noun, where its natural contrast is continuous.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of pulse.

   Blood pulsed through the wound with each heartbeat.

   The bass pulsed through the crowded room all night.

   Note

   One spelling covers both the simple past and the participle, and it carries both sides of the verb. Without an object it means throbbed or beat: blood pulsed, music pulsed. With an object it belongs to labs and kitchens. Cells are pulsed with an isotopic label, and onions are pulsed in a food processor. Only these object-taking uses form the passive (the cells were pulsed). Before a noun it shades into the "in short bursts" adjective.

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