ARC

¹

[ ahrk ]

noun

1. Pathology. AIDS-related complex.

ARC

²

or A.R.C.

abbreviation for

1. American Red Cross.

arc

³

[ ahrk ]

noun

1. Geometry. any unbroken part of the circumference of a circle or other curved line.
2. Also called electric arc. Electricity. a luminous bridge formed in a gap between two electrodes. Compare spark ¹( def 2 ).
3. Astronomy. the part of a circle representing the apparent course of a heavenly body.
4. anything bow-shaped.

verb (used without object)

, arced [ahrkt] or arcked, arc·ing [ahr, -king] or arck·ing.

1. to form an electric arc.
2. to move in a curve suggestive of an arc.

arc

¹

/ ɑːk /

noun

1. something curved in shape
2. part of an unbroken curved line
3. 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
4. astronomy a circular section of the apparent path of a celestial body
5. maths a section of a curve, graph, or geometric figure

verb

1. intr to form an arc

prefix

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

ARC

²

abbreviation for

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

arc

/ ärk /

1. A segment of a circle.
2. See electric arc

Word History and Origins

Origin of ARC¹

1350–1400; Middle English ark < Latin arcus bow, arch, curve

Word History and Origins

Origin of ARC¹

C14: from Old French, from Latin arcus bow, arch

Example Sentences

Mitchell made 19 of his 33 shots from the field and six of 15 from behind the 3-point arc, and he paraded himself to the free-throw line 13 times, connecting on all 13 tries.

From FiveThirtyEight

Harden’s teammates went 19 of 50 from beyond the arc, and the Rockets won the game.

From FiveThirtyEight

The ones they’ve found shape an arc, not quite a full circle.

From Science News For Students

All societies are just snippets of “the great arc of potential human purposes and motivations,” Benedict once wrote.

From Nautilus

This created an additional dim bow whose bottom hung below the primary arc.

From Science News For Students

How the polling firms and the media adjust to new realities also seems to be a rather long arc.

From The Daily Beast

So the plan is for Ken to draw an arc with Dale doing covers, and then Dale does an arc with Ken doing covers.

From The Daily Beast

A Molotov cocktail tumbled in an arc overhead and erupted briefly in a blaze.

From The Daily Beast

The stream of bubbly from the popped champagne bottle creates an angelic arc over her, and lands right in the glass.

From The Daily Beast

At this point in the arc, he doubts what Hershel is telling him.

From The Daily Beast

In this position, the line of cavalry formed the chord of the arc described by the river, and occupied by us.

From Project Gutenberg

The sequestered spot, a seat beneath a plane tree, with a lonesome arc-lamp shining full upon it, was occupied.

From Project Gutenberg

She looked very haggard and helpless beneath the blue arc-lights.

From Project Gutenberg

He threw the ship like a giant shell in a screaming, sweeping arc upon the red craft that drove across their bow.

From Project Gutenberg

When the sun swung into its western arc I halted where a large number of warriors had broken their fast.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• arch