TRANSFORMER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does transformer mean? 

• TRANSFORMER (noun)
  The noun TRANSFORMER has 1 sense:

1. an electrical device by which alternating current of one voltage is changed to another voltage

  Familiarity information: TRANSFORMER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRANSFORMER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An electrical device by which alternating current of one voltage is changed to another voltage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

electrical device (a device that produces or is powered by electricity)

Meronyms (parts of "transformer"):

induction coil (a coil for producing a high voltage from a low-voltage source)

primary; primary coil; primary winding (coil forming the part of an electrical circuit such that changing current in it induces a current in a neighboring circuit)

secondary; secondary coil; secondary winding (coil such that current is induced in it by passing a current through the primary coil)

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

coil (a transformer that supplies high voltage to spark plugs in a gasoline engine)

step-down transformer (a transformer that reduces voltage)

step-up transformer (a transformer that increases voltage)

Tesla coil (a step-up transformer with an air core; used to produce high voltages at high frequencies)

voltage regulator (a transformer whose voltage ratio of transformation can be adjusted)

Derivation:

transform (increase or decrease (an alternating current or voltage))

 Context examples 

Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)