arc

UK: 'ARC': /ˌeɪɑːˈsiː/; 'arc': /'ɑːk/ US: /ɑrk/ ,(ärk)

Inflections of 'arc' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

arcs

v 3rd person singular

arcing

v pres p

arcking

v pres p (Rare)

arced

v past

arcked

v past (Rare)

arced

v past p

arcked

v past p (Rare)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

arc /ɑrk/   n. 

[countable]
1. Mathematics any unbroken part of the circumference of a circle:
   an arc of twenty degrees.
2. something curved or arched like a bow.
3. Electricity the light formed in a gap between two electrodes when electricity flows through them:
   the arc of the light bulb.

v. [no object]

4. Electricity to form an electric arc:
   The current arced across the electrodes.
5. to move in a curved line:
   The ball arced through the air.

ARC or A.R.C., an abbreviation of:

1. American Red Cross.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

arc  (ärk), n., v., arced (ärkt) or arcked, arc•ing 

(är′king) or arck•ing. 
n. 
1. Mathematics [Geom.] any unbroken part of the circumference of a circle or other curved line.
2. Electricity Also called electric arc. a luminous bridge formed in a gap between two electrodes. Cf. spark¹ (def. 2).
3. Astronomy the part of a circle representing the apparent course of a heavenly body.
4. anything bow-shaped.

v.i. 
5. Electricity to form an electric arc.
6. to move in a curve suggestive of an arc.
• Latin arcus bow, arch, curve
• Middle English ark 1350–1400

ARC  (ärk), 

1. Pathology, n. See AIDS-related complex. 

ARC, 

1. American Red Cross.

Also, A.R.C. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

arc / ɑːk/ noun

1. something curved in shape
2. part of an unbroken curved line
3. the manner in which a situation, story, etc develops over a period of time
4. a luminous discharge that occurs when an electric current flows between two electrodes or any other two surfaces separated by a small gap and a high potential difference
5. a section of a curve, graph, or geometric figure

verb (arcs, arcing, arced, arcs, arcking, arcked)

1. (intransitive) to form an arc

prefix

1. specifying an inverse trigonometric function: usually written arcsin, arctan, arcsec, etc, or sometimes sin^–1, tan^–1, sec^–1, etc

Etymology: 14th Century: from Old French, from Latin arcus bow, arch

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

ARC abbreviation

1. AIDS-related complex: an early condition in which a person infected with the AIDS virus may suffer from such mild symptoms as loss of weight, fever, etc