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prototype

Syllabification: (pro·to·type)
Pronunciation: /ˈprōtəˌtīp/

Translate prototype | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of prototype

noun

  • a first, typical or preliminary model of something, especially a machine, from which other forms are developed or copied:the firm is testing a prototype of the weapon the prototype of all careerists is Judas
  • the archetypal example of a class of living organisms, astronomical objects, or other items:these objects are the prototypes of a category of rapidly spinning neutron stars
  • Electronics a basic filter network with specified cutoff frequencies, from which other networks may be derived to obtain sharper cutoffs, constancy of characteristic impedance with frequency, etc..

verb

[with object]
  • make a prototype of (a product).

Derivatives

prototypal

Pronunciation: /ˌprōtəˈtīpəl/

adjective

prototypic

Pronunciation: /ˌprōtəˈtipik/

adjective

prototypical

Pronunciation: /ˌprōtəˈtipikəl/

adjective

prototypically

Pronunciation: /ˌprōtəˈtipik(ə)lē/

adverb

Origin:

late 16th century (denoting the original of which something else is a copy or derivative): via French or late Latin from Greek prōtotupos (see proto-, type)

prototype in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of prototype in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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