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graph

/græf/
/grɑf/
IPA guide

Other forms: graphs; graphed; graphing

A graph is a visual plotting of the relationship between two or more quantities, like a math map. To graph is to create such a chart.

The noun graph came into use in the 1800s, when people got tired of saying graphic formula and decided to chop it down. A hundred years later, the verb form of graph was first recorded. Diagram and linear representation are two synonyms for the word. The dancer Martha Graham said, “Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart.” Here, she uses graph to say that dance is a visual representation of what’s in the heart.

Definitions of graph
  1. noun
    a visual representation of the relations between certain quantities plotted with reference to a set of axes
    synonyms: graphical record
    see moresee less
    types:
    seismogram
    the graphical record of an earth tremor made by using a seismograph
    characterisic function, characteristic curve
    (electronics) graph showing how a particular characteristic of a device varies with other parameters
    ballistocardiogram
    a graphical recording made by a ballistocardiograph
    echoencephalogram
    a graphical image of the brain produced by an echoencephalograph
    echocardiogram
    a graphical image of the heart produced by an echocardiograph
    ECG, EKG, cardiogram, electrocardiogram
    a graphical recording of the cardiac cycle produced by an electrocardiograph
    EEG, electroencephalogram, encephalogram
    a graphical record of electrical activity of the brain; produced by an electroencephalograph
    electroretinogram
    a graphical recording of the electrical activity of the retina that results when light is flashed into the eye
    Laffer curve
    a graph purporting to show the relation between tax rates and government income; income increases as tax rates increase up to an optimum beyond which income declines
    learning curve
    a graph showing the rate of learning (especially a graph showing the amount recalled as a function of the number of attempts to recall)
    myogram
    a graphical recording of muscle activity
    pattern, radiation diagram, radiation pattern
    graphical representation (in polar or Cartesian coordinates) of the spatial distribution of radiation from an antenna as a function of angle
    tachogram
    a graphical record of speed and distance produced by a tachograph
    thermogram
    a graphical record produced by a thermograph
    exponential curve
    a graph of an exponential function
    frequency-response characteristic, frequency-response curve
    (electronics) a graph of frequency response with signal amplitude or gain plotted against frequency
    EMG, electromyogram
    a graphical record of electric currents associated with muscle contractions
    type of:
    visual communication
    communication that relies on vision
  2. verb
    represent by means of a graph
    synonyms: chart
    see moresee less
    type of:
    interpret, represent
    create an image or likeness of
  3. verb
    plot upon a graph
    see moresee less
    type of:
    diagram, plot
    make a schematic or technical drawing of that shows interactions among variables or how something is constructed
Pronunciation
US
/græf/
UK
/grɑf/
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