electric

Definition

Of, relating to, produced by, operated with, or utilising electricity; electrical.

Etymology

First attested in c. 1646 in a publication by Thomas Browne. From New Latin ēlectricus (“electrical; of amber”), from ēlectr(um) (“amber”) + -icus (“adjectival suffix”); from Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, “amber”); related to ἠλέκτωρ (ēléktōr, “shining sun”), of unknown origin (see which for more). The Latin term was apparently used first with the sense electrical in 1600 by the English physician and scientist William Gilbert in his work De Magnete.

Example Sentences

• "But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts."
• "[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages."
• "While Britain continues to argue about how to deliver affordable electrification and decarbonisation, Swiss railways have been 100% electric since the 1960s."