ARPANET

American  

[ahr-puh-net] / ˈɑr pəˌnɛt /

Or ARPAnet

noun

Computers.

1. Advanced Research Projects Agency Network: a network of computers, developed by the U.S. Department of Defense in the 1960s, that pioneered data transfer in packets and the Internet Protocol; a precursor to the internet.

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ARPANET Scientific  

/ är′pə-nĕt /

1. A computer network developed by the Advanced Research Project Agency (now the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency) in the 1960s and 1970s as a means of communication between research laboratories and universities. ARPANET was the predecessor to the Internet.

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Arpanet Cultural  

1. An acronym for A dvanced R esearch P roject A gency Net work. An early communications network developed by the Department of Defense in the late 1960s. It connected high-tech research institutions and the military.

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Spelling

See internet.

Discover More

Arpanet is often spoken of as a precursor of the Internet.

Creating a communications system that could survive a nuclear war was a major impetus behind the development of this system.

Etymology

Origin of ARPANET

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

In creating ARPANET, researchers developed many of the technologies that over the next few decades formed the basis for the internet we know today.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

It resembles the investments government made in the 1960s to develop ARPANET, the first, rough version of the Internet, and, later, the Global Positioning System.

From Washington Post • Dec. 9, 2021

Future generations may look back on this moment the way we look nostalgically at ARPANET, a pure infant version of the internet, its vast potential yet to be recognized and commercialized.

From Science Magazine • Jun. 3, 2021

ARPANET, the forerunner of the internet, was funded by the Defense Department.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 28, 2021

The book, and softcopies obtained off the ARPANET, circulated even in cultures far removed from MIT and Stanford; the content exerted a strong and continuing influence on hackish language and humor.

From The Jargon File, Version 2.9.10, 01 Jul 1992 by Raymond, Eric S.