spectrograph.

1. An instrument that separates light or other electromagnetic radiation by wavelength and records the resulting spectrum.

2. An instrument or system that records how the frequency components of a sound change over time.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a stellar spectrograph
• a spectrograph slit
• a spectrograph exposure

On the page

The spectrograph recorded an absorption line that neither model had predicted.

She adjusted the spectrograph slit while the star drifted toward the edge of the field.

Usage notes

Primary category: sci-fi. Forms: Singular spectrograph; plural spectrographs. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.