electric displacement

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

elec′tric displace′ment, [Elect.]

1. Electricity the part of the electric field that is determined solely by free charges, without reference to the dielectric properties of the surrounding medium: measured in coulombs per square meter. Symbol: D Also called displacement. 

• 1880–85

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

electric displacement noun

1. the electric flux density when an electric field exists in free space into which a dielectric is introduced
   Symbol: D
   Also called: electric flux density