quantize

C2 Topic:Actions & Processes

US /ˈkwɑːn.taɪz/ UK /ˈkwɒn.taɪz/ See IPA manual

Freq #356743

Meanings

1

verb
physics: to restrict a physical quantity or system to discrete allowed values or states

The model quantizes the electron's energy into a set of discrete levels.
2

verb
signal processing: to map a continuous or finely varying signal onto a finite set of values

The encoder quantizes each audio sample to one of 65,536 amplitude levels.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · physics: to restrict a... discretize

2 verb · signal processing: to map a... discretizedigitize

Opposites

dequantize

Word family

Forms quantizedunquantized

Derived forms dequantizequantizabilityquantizablequantizationquantizerrequantize

Related forms quantumquantadiscretesignal processing

Etymology

Formed from quantum + -ize. Quantum is Latin for "how much" and became a physics term for a discrete amount of energy. Quantize first meant expressing a physical system in quanta; signal processing extended it to replacing a continuous range with discrete values.

Topics

Actions & Processes Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# quantize

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈkwɑːn.taɪz/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkwɒn.taɪz/
**Frequency rank:** 356743

## Meanings
1. physics: to restrict a physical quantity or system to discrete allowed values or states
2. signal processing: to map a continuous or finely varying signal onto a finite set of values

## Examples
- The model quantizes the electron's energy into a set of discrete levels.
- The encoder quantizes each audio sample to one of 65,536 amplitude levels.

## Synonyms
- discretize
- digitize

## Antonyms
- dequantize

## Derived Forms
- dequantize
- quantizability
- quantizable
- quantization
- quantizer
- requantize

## Related Forms
- quantum
- quanta
- discrete
- signal processing

## Etymology
Formed from quantum + -ize. Quantum is Latin for "how much" and became a physics term for a discrete amount of energy. Quantize first meant expressing a physical system in quanta; signal processing extended it to replacing a continuous range with discrete values.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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