CARRIER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does carrier mean? 

• CARRIER (noun)
  The noun CARRIER has 11 senses:

1. someone whose employment involves carrying something

2. a self-propelled wheeled vehicle designed specifically to carry something

3. a large warship that carries planes and has a long flat deck for takeoffs and landings

4. an inactive substance that is a vehicle for a radioactive tracer of the same substance and that assists in its recovery after some chemical reaction

5. a person or firm in the business of transporting people or goods or messages

6. a radio wave that can be modulated in order to transmit a signal

7. a man who delivers the mail

8. a boy who delivers newspapers

9. (medicine) a person (or animal) who has some pathogen to which he is immune but who can pass it on to others

10. a rack attached to a vehicle; for carrying luggage or skis or the like

11. (genetics) an organism that possesses a recessive gene whose effect is masked by a dominant allele; the associated trait is not apparent but can be passed on to offspring

  Familiarity information: CARRIER used as a noun is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CARRIER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone whose employment involves carrying something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

bearer; carrier; toter

Context example:

the bonds were transmitted by carrier

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

traveler; traveller (a person who changes location)

Derivation:

carry (move while supporting, either in a vehicle or in one's hands or on one's body)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A self-propelled wheeled vehicle designed specifically to carry something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

refrigerated carriers have revolutionized the grocery business

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

self-propelled vehicle (a wheeled vehicle that carries in itself a means of propulsion)

Derivation:

carry (move while supporting, either in a vehicle or in one's hands or on one's body)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A large warship that carries planes and has a long flat deck for takeoffs and landings

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

aircraft carrier; attack aircraft carrier; carrier; flattop

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

combat ship; war vessel; warship (a government ship that is available for waging war)

Meronyms (parts of "carrier"):

arrester; arrester hook (a restraint that slows airplanes as they land on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier)

flight deck; landing deck (the upper deck of an aircraft carrier; used as a runway)

Derivation:

carry (move while supporting, either in a vehicle or in one's hands or on one's body)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An inactive substance that is a vehicle for a radioactive tracer of the same substance and that assists in its recovery after some chemical reaction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

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

chemical; chemical substance (material produced by or used in a reaction involving changes in atoms or molecules)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A person or firm in the business of transporting people or goods or messages

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

carrier; common carrier

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

business; business concern; business organisation; business organization; concern (a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it)

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

line (a commercial organization serving as a common carrier)

Derivation:

carry (move while supporting, either in a vehicle or in one's hands or on one's body)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A radio wave that can be modulated in order to transmit a signal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

carrier; carrier wave

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

radio emission; radio radiation; radio wave (an electromagnetic wave with a wavelength between 0.5 cm to 30,000 m)

Derivation:

carry (transmit or serve as the medium for transmission)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A man who delivers the mail

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

carrier; letter carrier; mail carrier; mailman; postman

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

deliverer; delivery boy; deliveryman (someone employed to make deliveries)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A boy who delivers newspapers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

carrier; newsboy

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

deliverer; delivery boy; deliveryman (someone employed to make deliveries)

Sense 9

Meaning:

(medicine) a person (or animal) who has some pathogen to which he is immune but who can pass it on to others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

carrier; immune carrier

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

transmitter; vector (any agent (person or animal or microorganism) that carries and transmits a disease)

immune (a person who is immune to a particular infection)

Domain category:

medical specialty; medicine (the branches of medical science that deal with nonsurgical techniques)

Instance hyponyms:

Mallon; Mary Mallon; Typhoid Mary (United States cook who was an immune carrier of typhoid fever and who infected dozens of people (1870-1938))

Derivation:

carry (have as an inherent or characteristic feature or have as a consequence)

Sense 10

Meaning:

A rack attached to a vehicle; for carrying luggage or skis or the like

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

rack (framework for holding objects)

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

bomb rack (a device on an aircraft for carrying bombs)

luggage carrier (carrier (as behind a bicycle seat) for luggage)

luggage rack; roof rack (carrier for holding luggage above the seats of a train or on top of a car)

ski rack (a carrier for holding skis on top of a vehicle)

Derivation:

carry (bear or be able to bear the weight, pressure,or responsibility of)

Sense 11

Meaning:

(genetics) an organism that possesses a recessive gene whose effect is masked by a dominant allele; the associated trait is not apparent but can be passed on to offspring

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

being; organism (a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently)

Domain category:

genetic science; genetics (the branch of biology that studies heredity and variation in organisms)

 Context examples 

Mitochondrial carrier homolog 2 (303 aa, ~33 kDa) is encoded by the human MTCH2 gene.

(Mitochondrial Carrier Homolog 2, NCI Thesaurus)

Despite these findings, researchers suggest that people err on the side of caution and not consume meat from game animals that appear ill or thin, or are confirmed carriers of CWD.

(Study finds no chronic wasting disease transmissibility in macaques, National Institutes of Health)

In half-an-hour the carrier was to call for it to take it to Lowton, whither I myself was to repair at an early hour the next morning to meet the coach.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Then, an engineered lentivirus that cannot cause illness is used as a carrier, or “vector,” to deliver the normal IL2RGgene to the cells.

(Gene therapy restores immunity in infants with rare immunodeficiency disease, National Institutes of Health)

The team made disk-shaped, micrometer-sized silicon particles to serve as a carrier for the pDox.

(Injectable nanoparticles deliver cancer therapy in mice, NIH)

It is thought that more than two billion people have been infected worldwide, and around 350 million people remain carriers of the infection, which can, over time, result in their deaths.

(Scientists A Step Closer to Drug Treatment for Hepatitis B, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Doxorubicin is released from the albumin carrier after cleavage of the acid-sensitive hydrazone linker within the acidic environment of tumors and, once located intracellularly, intercalates DNA, inhibits DNA synthesis, and induces apoptosis.

(Aldoxorubicin, NCI Thesaurus)

Strongly similar to murine Ant1, ANT1 contains 3 solute carrier (Solcar) repeats and the signature RRRMMM motif of nucleotide carriers; six alpha helices form a compact transmembrane domain.

(Adenine Nucleotide Translocator-1, NCI Thesaurus)

A team of scientists in Brazil has developed a biodegradable plastic that could be used for food packaging or carrier bags, by applying ozone gas to cassava starch.

(Scientists develop biodegradable plastic from cassava starch, SciDev.Net)

As we age, these protein carriers, as well as other proteins that control the balance, or homeostasis, of cholesterol in the brain become less effective.

(Brain cholesterol associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, University of Cambridge)