the state of being frequent; frequent occurrence the number of times that an event occurs within a given period; rate of recurrence the number of times that a periodic function or vibration repeats itself in a specified time, often 1 second. It is usually measured in hertz the number of individuals in a class (absolute frequency) the ratio of this number to the total number of individuals under survey (relative frequency) the number of individuals of a species within a given area
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
fre•quen•cy /ˈfrikwənsi/USA pronunciation
n., pl. -cies.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- [uncountable]the state or fact of being frequent;
frequent occurrence. - rate of occurrence:[uncountable]Similar crimes had decreased in frequency.
- Physicsthe number of cycles or times a wave vibrates in a given amount of time, often one second: [uncountable]They played back the message at high frequency.[countable]sounds at high frequencies that can't be heard by humans.
fre•quen•cy
(frē′kwən sē),USA pronunciation n., pl. -cies.
- Also, fre′quence. the state or fact of being frequent;
frequent occurrence:We are alarmed by the frequency of fires in the neighborhood. - rate of occurrence:The doctor has increased the frequency of his visits.
- Physics
- the number of periods or regularly occurring events of any given kind in unit of time, usually in one second.
- the number of cycles or completed alternations per unit time of a wave or oscillation. Symbol: F;
Abbr.: freq.
- Mathematicsthe number of times a value recurs in a unit change of the independent variable of a given function.
- Statisticsthe number of items occurring in a given category. Cf. relative frequency.
- Latin frequentia assembly, multitude, crowd. See frequent, -cy
- 1545–55
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged regularity, repetition, recurrence.
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