Standard Lemma guide

voltage

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈvəʊltɪd͡ʒ/
  • UK: /ˈvɒltɪd͡ʒ/
  • London: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈvoʊltɪd͡ʒ/
  • Australian: /ˈvəʉltɪd͡ʒ/
  • Australian: /ˈvɐʉltɪd͡ʒ/
  • rhymes with -əʊltɪdʒ
  • rhymes with -ɒltɪdʒ
  • CMU ARPABET: V OW1 L T AH0 JH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: V OW1 L T IH0 JH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The difference in electrostatic potential between two points in space, especially between live and neutral conductors or the earth.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: business, electrical-engineering, electricity, electromagnetism, energy, engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

Examples

  • The voltage between the wires is too low to produce a spark.
  • Be careful when opening high-voltage equipment.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the difference in electrical charge between two points in a circuit expressed in volts

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: electric potential, potential, potential difference, potential drop

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: electrical phenomenon

Narrower terms: evoked potential, resting potential

3

noun

Meaning 3

the rate at which energy is drawn from a source that produces a flow of electricity in a circuit; expressed in volts

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: electromotive force, emf

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: electrical phenomenon

History

Etymology

From volt + -age, ultimately derived from the name of Alessandro Volta, inventor of the modern battery.

Across languages

Translations

100 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: tension — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Arabic: جُهْد (juhd) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Arabic: فُولْتِيَّة (voltiyya) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Armenian: լարում (larum) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Asturian: voltaxe — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Azerbaijani: gərginlik — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Belarusian: напру́жанне (naprúžannje) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Belarusian: напру́жаньне (naprúžanʹnje) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Belarusian: напру́га (naprúha) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Bengali: বিভব (bibhob) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Bulgarian: напреже́ние (naprežénie) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Burmese: ဗို့အား (bui.a:) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Catalan: tensió — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Catalan: voltatge — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Cebuano: boltahe — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Chinese Cantonese: 電壓 /电压 (din6 aat3) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Chinese: 電壓 /电压 (tiān-ap) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Chinese Mandarin: 電壓 /电压 (diànyā) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Czech: napětí — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Danish: spænding — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Dutch: spanning — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Esperanto: tensio — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Estonian: pinge — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Finnish: jännite — difference in electrostatic potential
  • French: tension — difference in electrostatic potential
  • French: voltage — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Galician: voltaxe — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Georgian: ძაბვა (ʒabva) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • German: Spannung — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Greek: τάση (tási) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Hebrew: מֶתַח (métakh) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Hebrew: ווֹלטָג׳ — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Hindi: विभवांतर (vibhvāntar) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Hindi: वोल्टता (volṭatā) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Hindi: विद्युत्-दाब (vidyut-dāb) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Hungarian: feszültség — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Icelandic: rafspenna — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Icelandic: spenna — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Icelandic: straumstyrkur — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Indonesian: tegangan — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Indonesian: tegangan listrik — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Indonesian: beda potensial — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Indonesian: spaning — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Indonesian: voltase — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Irish: teannas — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Italian: voltaggio — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Italian: tensione — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Japanese: 電圧 (den'atsu) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Kazakh: кернеу (kerneu) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Khmer: តង់ស្យុង (tɑngsyong) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Korean: 전압 (jeonap) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Kyrgyz: шыкалуу (şıkaluu) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Lao: ຄວາມດັນໄຟຟ້າ (khuām dan fai fā) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Latvian: spriegums — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Latvian: voltāža — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Lithuanian: įtampa — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Macedonian: напон (napon) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Macedonian: волта́жа (voltáža) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Malay: voltan — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Malay: voltase — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Maltese: vultaġġ — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Māori: ngaohiko — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Mongolian: хүчдэл (xüčdel) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Norwegian Bokmål: spenning — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Iranian Persian: وُلْتاژ (voltâž) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Piedmontese: voltagg — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Polish: napięcie — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Polish: woltaż — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Portuguese: tensão — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Portuguese: voltagem — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Romanian: tensiune — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Romanian: voltaj — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Russian: напряже́ние (naprjažénije) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Russian: вольта́ж (volʹtáž) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Serbo-Croatian: на́пон — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Serbo-Croatian: nápon — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Slovak: napätie — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Slovene: napetost — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Slovene: voltaža — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Spanish: voltaje — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Spanish: tensión — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Swedish: spänning — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Tagalog: boltahe — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Tajik: шиддат (šiddat) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Thai: แรงดันไฟฟ้า (rɛɛng-dan-fai-fáa) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Thai: โวลเตจ (woon-dtèet) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Turkish: gerilim — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Turkmen: tok güýji — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Ukrainian: напру́га (naprúha) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Ukrainian: напру́ження (naprúžennja) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Ukrainian: вольта́ж (volʹtáž) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Urdu: وولْٹیج (volṭej) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Urdu: تَناؤ (tanāo) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Urdu: جُہْد (juhd) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Uyghur: توك بېسىمى (tok bësimi) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Uyghur: بېسىم (bësim) — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Uzbek: kuchlanish — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Vietnamese: điện áp — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Vietnamese: hiệu điện thế — difference in electrostatic potential
  • Welsh: foltedd — difference in electrostatic potential
Real reading context

voltage in complete knowledge articles