diffraction
nounUK /dɪˈfrækʃən/
US /dɪˈfrækʃən/
Diffraction is when light or sound bends around corners or spreads out as it passes through a small opening.
You can see diffraction when light shines through a tiny slit and spreads into a rainbow pattern.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. The spreading of waves, such as sound or water waves, when they pass an obstacle.
The diffraction of sound waves lets you hear someone talking around a corner.
3. In physics, the bending of light around the edge of an object, creating faint fringes.
The telescope's image showed diffraction rings around the bright star.
4. The process by which a beam of X-rays is scattered by the regular arrangement of atoms in a crystal.
Scientists used X-ray diffraction to figure out the structure of DNA.