CONDUCTOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does conductor mean? 

• CONDUCTOR (noun)
  The noun CONDUCTOR has 4 senses:

1. the person who leads a musical group

2. a substance that readily conducts e.g. electricity and heat

3. the person who collects fares on a public conveyance

4. a device designed to transmit electricity, heat, etc.

  Familiarity information: CONDUCTOR used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONDUCTOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The person who leads a musical group

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

conductor; director; music director

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

musician (artist who composes or conducts music as a profession)

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

bandmaster (the conductor of a band)

drum majorette; majorette (a female drum major)

drum major (the leader of a marching band or drum corps)

bandleader (the leader of a dance band)

Instance hyponyms:

Arthur Fiedler; Fiedler (popular United States conductor (1894-1979))

Sir Henry Joseph Wood; Sir Henry Wood; Wood (English conductor (1869-1944))

Baron Karl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber; Carl Maria von Weber; Weber (German conductor and composer of romantic operas (1786-1826))

Bruno Walter; Walter (German conductor (1876-1962))

Arturo Toscanini; Toscanini (Italian conductor of many orchestras worldwide (1867-1957))

George Szell; Szell (United States conductor (born in Hungary) (1897-1970))

Leopold Antoni Stanislaw Stokowski; Leopold Stokowski; Stokowski (United States conductor (born in Britain) (1882-1977))

Ozawa; Seiji Ozawa (United States conductor (born in Japan in 1935))

Eugene Ormandy; Ormandy (United States conductor (born in Hungary) (1899-1985))

Gustav Mahler; Mahler (Austrian composer and conductor (1860-1911))

Constant Lambert; Lambert; Leonard Constant Lambert (English composer and conductor (1905-1951))

Koussevitzky; Serge Koussevitzky; Sergei Aleksandrovich Koussevitzky (United States conductor (born in Russia) who was noted for performing the works of contemporary composers (1874-1951))

Hindemith; Paul Hindemith (German neoclassical composer and conductor who believed that music should have a social purpose (1895-1963))

Benjamin Britten; Britten; Edward Benjamin Britten; Lord Britten of Aldeburgh (major English composer of the 20th century; noted for his operas (1913-1976))

Bernstein; Leonard Bernstein (United States conductor and composer (1918-1990))

Derivation:

conduct (lead musicians in the performance of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A substance that readily conducts e.g. electricity and heat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

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

material; stuff (the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object)

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

atomic number 29; copper; Cu (a ductile malleable reddish-brown corrosion-resistant diamagnetic metallic element; occurs in various minerals but is the only metal that occurs abundantly in large masses; used as an electrical and thermal conductor)

Ag; atomic number 47; silver (a soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal; occurs in argentite and in free form; used in coins and jewelry and tableware and photography)

semiconducting material; semiconductor (a substance as germanium or silicon whose electrical conductivity is intermediate between that of a metal and an insulator; its conductivity increases with temperature and in the presence of impurities)

Antonym:

insulator (a material such as glass or porcelain with negligible electrical or thermal conductivity)

Derivation:

conduct (transmit or serve as the medium for transmission)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The person who collects fares on a public conveyance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

accumulator; collector; gatherer (a person who is employed to collect payments (as for rent or taxes))

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

conductress (a woman conductor)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A device designed to transmit electricity, heat, etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

device (an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose)

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

cable; line; transmission line (a conductor for transmitting electrical or optical signals or electric power)

cord; electric cord (a light insulated conductor for household use)

electrode (a conductor used to make electrical contact with some part of a circuit)

heat sink (a metal conductor specially designed to conduct (and radiate) heat)

lightning conductor; lightning rod (a metallic conductor that is attached to a high point and leads to the ground; protects the building from destruction by lightning)

semiconductor; semiconductor device; semiconductor unit (a conductor made with semiconducting material)

bypass; electrical shunt; shunt (a conductor having low resistance in parallel with another device to divert a fraction of the current)

wave guide; waveguide (a hollow metal conductor that provides a path to guide microwaves; used in radar)

conducting wire; wire (a metal conductor that carries electricity over a distance)

bus; busbar (an electrical conductor that makes a common connection between several circuits)

Derivation:

conduct (transmit or serve as the medium for transmission)

 Context examples 

There are always extraneous currents flowing in the safety ground conductor.

(Device Electrical Current Leakage Problem Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

The movement of electrical charges in a conductor.

(Electrical Current, NCI Thesaurus)

A device that experienced electromagnetic interference (EMI) by physical contact with conductors (e.g. wires, resistors, terminals) as opposed to radiated EMI which is caused by induction (without physical contact of the conductors).

(Device Conducted Interference Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

Testing the ability of a device's conducted emissions to cause another device to fail (i.e. electromagnetic disturbance for which the energy is transferred via one or more conductors).

(Device Conducted Emissions Testing Evaluation Method, Food and Drug Administration)

A physical phenomenon associated with stationary or moving electrons and protons; energy made available by the flow of electric charge through a conductor.

(Electricity, NCI Thesaurus)

A conductor that is designed to make contact with part of a circuit or system.

(Electrode Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

I was innocent; that could easily be proved; accordingly I followed my conductor in silence and was led to one of the best houses in the town.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

An insulated electrical conductor designed to connect to an electrical device.

(Lead Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

An insulated electrical conductor designed to connect to an electrical device for which the lead is in situ.

(In Situ Existing Lead, NCI Thesaurus/ACC)

Issue associated with the inability to connect conductors of an electronic system for the purpose of controlling or impeding ground currents and voltages.

(Grounding Malfunction Medical Device Problem, Food and Drug Administration)