Attenuator

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An apparatus designed to lessen the magnitude or strength of a signal while preserving its integrity
2. A tool that diminishes the intensity of electronic signals without altering their quality
3. A device that lowers the power or amplitude of a signal without distorting its original quality

Etymology: The core of "attenuator" is the verb "attenuate," which English borrowed from Latin "attenuare," meaning to make thin or slender. The Latin root sits in "tenuis," thin, so the word began as a physical image of something being thinned out. Over time the sense shifted from thinning solid things to weakening strength or force, and English later applied it to signals. The ending "-or" is an agent suffix. It came into English through Old French "-eor" and "-our" from Latin "-tor" and "-ator," and it marks a thing or person that performs an action. So an attenuator is literally a device that does the attenuating: it thins out a signal's strength rather than its content, which is why the definition stresses that quality is unchanged.

Synonyms: reducer, diminisher

Antonyms: amplifier