SHOCK WAVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shock wave mean? 

• SHOCK WAVE (noun)
  The noun SHOCK WAVE has 1 sense:

1. a region of high pressure travelling through a gas at a high velocity

  Familiarity information: SHOCK WAVE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHOCK WAVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A region of high pressure travelling through a gas at a high velocity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

blast wave; shock wave

Context example:

the explosion created a shock wave

Hypernyms ("shock wave" is a kind of...):

undulation; wave ((physics) a movement up and down or back and forth)

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

sonic boom (an explosive sound caused by the shock wave of an airplane traveling faster than the speed of sound)

 Context examples 

These shock waves heat the gas to millions of degrees, which causes it to glow in X-rays.

(Scientists Take Viewers to the Center of the Milky Way, NASA)

Shock waves occur when objects move faster than the speed of sound, which is 1,236 kilometers (768 miles) per hour.

(Seeing Shock Waves, EARTH OBSERVATORY)

The observed CH+ reveals dense shock waves, powered by hot, fast galactic winds originating inside the galaxies’ star forming regions.

(ALMA Finds Huge Hidden Reservoirs of Turbulent Gas in Distant Galaxies, ESO)

It can be done with shock waves; with a scope inserted through the tube that carries urine out of the body, called the urethra; or with surgery.

(Kidney Stones, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

Meanwhile, another instrument on Voyager registers the shock waves, too.

(Sun sends more 'tsunami waves' to Voyager 1, NASA)

Astronomers already had evidence that a supernova’s outward-moving shock wave can produce significant amounts of dust.

(Missing Link Between Supernovae and Planet Formation, NASA)

With each impact, a small shock wave fans out and ejects water from the surrounding area.

(Meteoroid Strikes Eject Precious Water From Moon, NASA)

These cavities are carved out when jets from the supermassive black hole generate shock waves that push the gas outward and create huge holes.

(Chandra Finds Evidence for Serial Black Hole Eruptions, NASA)

The X-ray data show hot gas and the radio data show emission from electrons that have been accelerated to high energies by the nova shock wave.

("Mini Supernova" Explosion Could Have Big Impact, NASA)

The inner shell is essentially an expanding shock wave, so it may be smashing into the dust grains and obliterating them, or producing an extra heating effect that evaporates the dust.

(The Strange Structures of the Saturn Nebula, ESO)