• Author / Uploaded
• MuhammadHaris

Citation preview

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers Compiled By: Muhammad Haris 14R-13-EE-179

Table of contents

Section 1: Electrical Engineering Jargons………….....

03

Section 2: 100 English Vocabulary building words.....

37

Section 3: Word synonyms and antonyms…………..... 47

Section 4: Word Families……………………………... 54 References…………………………………………….. 60

Section 1: Electrical Engineering Jargons

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

3|Page

A

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

A A/D A device that changes an analog signal to a digital signal of corresponding magnitude. This device is also called an encoder, adc, or a/c converter.

acceptance The phase-space volume within which the beam must lie to be transmitted through an optical system without losses.

accumulator

aberration

A register in the CPU (processor) that stores one of the operands prior to the execution of an operation, and into which the result of the operation is stored.

An imperfection of an optical system that leads to a blurred or a distorted image.

actuator

absorption

A transducer that converts electrical, hydraulic, or pneumatic energy to effective motion.

Process that dissipates energy and causes a decrease in the amplitude and intensity of a propagating wave between an input and output reference plane.

address

AC

algorithm

A periodic current the average value of which over a period is zero.

A systematic and precise, step-bystep procedure (such as a recipe, a program, or set of programs) for solving a certain kind of problem or accomplishing a task.

accelerator A machine used to impart large kinetic energies to charged particles such as electrons, protons, and atomic nuclei. The accelerated particles are used to probe nuclear or subnuclear phenomena in industrial and medical applications.

4|Page

A unique identifier for the place where information is stored.

aliasing Distortion introduced in a digital signal when it is under sampled.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

A

ammeter

annealing

An instrument for measuring electric current in amperes.

A process often used in semiconductor processing to cause a change in materials or device properties to improve the circuit performance and/or reliability.

Ampere’s law A fundamental relationship in electromagnetic theory. In a fairly general form it is expressed by one of Maxwell’s equations.

anode

amplifier

antenna

A circuit element that has a linear input-output signal relationship, with gain in voltage, current, and/or power.

amplitude

A device used to couple energy from a guiding structure (transmission line, waveguide, etc.) Into a propagation medium, such as free space, and vice versa. It provides directivity and gain for the transmission and reception of electromagnetic waves.

Descriptor of the strength of a wave disturbance such as an electromagnetic or acoustic wave.

argument

The positive electrode of a device.

A piece of data given to a hardware operator block.

analog data Data represented in a continuous form with respect to continuous time, as contrasted with digital data represented in a discrete (discontinuous) form in a sequence of time instant.

AND The Boolean operator that implements the conjunction of two predicates.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

armature The magnetic circuit of a rotating electrical machine, including the main current carrying winding, in which an alternating voltage is induced by the magnetic field.

artefact An error or aberration in a signal that is the result of aliasing, a quantization error, some form of noise.

5|Page

B

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

ASCII

axon

A binary code comprised of seven digits, originally used to transmit telegraph signal information.

The conducting portion of a nerve fiber.

attenuation The exponential decrease with distance, in the amplitude of an electric signal traveling along a very long transmission line due to losses in the supporting medium.

azimuth recording A recording scheme where by the data is recorded at an acute angle from the direction of movement of the recording medium. Used in the recording scheme of video information, FM radio, and audio in VCRs.

autotransformer A power transformer that has a single continuous winding per phase, part of this winding being common to both the primary and the secondary sides. As a result, these voltages are not isolated but the transformer is reduced in weight and size.

avalanche breakdown Process that occurs in a semiconductor space charge region under a sufficiently high voltage.

AVR An automatic feedback control system that is responsible for maintaining a scheduled voltage either at the terminals of a synchronous generator or at the highside bus of the generator step-up transformer.

6|Page

B back EMF A voltage developed in an electrical winding by Faraday’s Law that opposes the source voltage, thus limiting the current in the winding.

band Reference name for a range of frequencies. Current defined bands include the following.

bandwidth The frequency range of a message or information processing system measured in hertz.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

B

baud

BIT

The signaling rate, or rate of state transitions, on a communications medium.

The fundamental unit of information representation in a computer, short for “binary digit” and with two values usually represented by “0” and “1.”

BCD A weighted code using patterns of four bits to represent each decimal position of a number.

BJT A three-terminal nonlinear device composed of two bipolar junctions (collector-base, base-emitter) in close proximity

benchmark Standard tests that are used to compare the performance of computers, processors, circuits, or algorithms.

biasing The technique of applying a direct current voltage to a transistor or an active network to establish the desired operating point.

BIOS Part of a low-level operating system that directly controls input and output devices.

bipolar A type of transistor that uses both polarities of carriers (electrons and holes) in its operation as a junction transistor.

Boolean An operator or an expression of George Boole’s algebra (1847). A Boolean variable or signal can assume only two values: TRUE or FALSE.

boost converter A circuit configuration in which a transistor is switched by PWM trigger pulses and a diode provides an inductor current continuation path when the transistor is off. During the transistor on-time, the current builds up in the inductor. During the transistor off-time, the voltage across the inductor reverses and adds to the input voltage, as a result, the output voltage is greater than the input voltage.

BPI Bits per inch.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

7|Page

C

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

breadboard An experimental device built only to investigate, test, analyze, evaluate, validate, a concept, device, circuit, equipment, or system.

breakdown As applied to insulation (including air), the failure of an insulator or insulating region to prevent conduction, typically because of high voltage.

elements are transferred within a system.

bus A data path connecting the different subsystems or modules within a computer system. A computer system will usually have more than one bus; each bus will be customized to fit the data transfer needs between the modules that it connects.

C

broadband A service or system requiring transmission channels capable of supporting bit rates greater than 2 Mbit/s.

cache An intermediate memory storage

calibration brush A conductor, usually carbon or a carbon–copper mixture, that makes sliding electrical contact to the rotor of an electrical machine.

buck converter A transistor is switched by PWM trigger pulses and a diode provides a current continuation path when the transistor is off, thus the input voltage is chopped.

The procedure of characterizing the equipment in place for a particular measurement.

capacitance The measure of the electrical size of a capacitor, in units of farads.

carcinotron A forward radial traveling wave amplifier in which microwave signals are fed to the radial slow wave structure.

buffer A temporary data storage area in memory that compensates for the different speeds at which different 8|Page

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

C

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

carry

charge

Overflow signal that occurs when the sum of the operands at the inputs of the adder equals the base.

A basic physical quantity that is a source of electromagnetic fields.

cascade A circuit technique in which the current output of the collector (drain) of a BJT (FET) is buffered by a common base (common gate) amplifier stage.

chattering Fast switching.

checksum Checksum is a value used to determine if a block of data has changed.

cathode The negative electrode of a device.

cell

chirp The varying in time of a carrier frequency signal.

The area serviced by one base station.

circuit

cepstrum

A physical device consisting of an interconnection of elements, or a topological model of such a device.

Inverse Fourier transform of the logarithm of the Fourier power spectrum of a signal.

clamping

channel The medium along which data travel between the transmitter and receiver in a communication system. This could be a wire, coaxial cable, free space, etc.

chaos Erratic and unpredictable dynamic behaviour of a deterministic system that never repeats itself. General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

The process of fixing either the minima or maxima of a voltage

clipping Nonlinear distortion that occurs when the input to an amplifier exceeds the amplifier’s linear range.

clock The oscillator circuit that generates a periodic synchronization signal. 9|Page

C

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

coax

compensator

A transmission line formed by two concentric conductors separated by a dielectric designed to confine the fields and their energy in the medium between said conductors.

A system block added to an existing system (or process) to produce a combined transfer function that improves its performance when connected in a closed loop configuration.

codec Word formed from encoder and decoder. A device that performs encoding and decoding of communications protocols.

compiler A program that translates a high level language program into an executable machine instruction program or other lower-level form such as assembly language.

coherent Integration where magnitude and phase of received signals are preserved in summation.

coil A conductor shaped to form a closed geometric path.

commutation The process by which alternating current in the rotating coil of a DC machine is converted to unidirectional current.

comparator A logic element that compares two binary numbers (A and B) to determine if A = B, AB. An exclusive NOR gate operates like a 1-bit comparator.

10 | P a g e

complement To swap 1’s for 0’s and 0’s for 1’s in a binary number.

computer An electronic, electromechanical, or purely mechanical device that accepts input, performs some computational operations on the input, and produces some output.

conductance A characteristic that describes the availability and the mobility of conduction electrons within a material.

conductivity A measure of a material’s ability to conduct electrical current.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

D

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

conduit

current

A pipe through which an electrical cables are laid.

The flow of charge, measured in amperes

control Intervention, by means of appropriate manipulated inputs, into the controlled process in the course of its operation; some form of observation of the actual controlled process behavior is usually being used by the controller.

convergence The condition when the electron beams from a multi-beam CRT meet at a single point.

copper loss Electric loss due to the resistance in conductors, windings, brush contacts or joints, in electric machinery or circuits. Also referred to as i2r, the losses are manifested as heat.

core The ferromagnetic portion of a transformer or electric machine on which the coils are mounted.

coupler A passive, wavelength in sensitive, fiber optic component that combines all inputs and distributes them to the outputs with a defined splitting ratio.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

D D flip-flop A basic sequential logic circuit, also known as bistable, whose output assumes the value (0 or 1) at its D input when the device is clocked. Hence it can be used as a single bit memory device, or a unit delay.

damping A characteristic built in to electrical circuits and mechanical systems that prevents rapid or excessive corrections that may lead to instability or oscillatory conditions.

data Any information, represented in binary, that a computer receives, processes, or outputs.

DC Constant voltage with no variation over time. This can be considered in general terms as an alternating current (ac) with a frequency of variation of zero, or a zero frequency signal.

11 | P a g e

D

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

debug

diffusion

To remove errors from hardware or software.

A region of a semiconductor into which a very high concentration of impurity has been diffused in order to substantially increase the majority carrier concentration in that region.

decimal From the number system that has base 10 and employs 10 digits.

decoder A logic circuit with N inputs and 2n outputs, one and only one of which is asserted to indicate the numerical value of the N input lines read as a binary number.

digital Circuits or systems that employ two valued (binary) signals denoted by the digits 0and1. Normallybinary1isusedtoindicate high/true and binary 0 to indicate low/false (positive logic).

diode delay The time required for a signal to propagate along a wire.

delta connection A three-phase power source or load in which the elements are connected in series and are thus represented on a schematic diagram as a triangular configuration.

demodulation The process by which a modulated signal is recovered back to its original form.

demultiplexer A logic circuit with K inputs and I controls which steers the K inputs to one set of 2i sets of output lines. 12 | P a g e

A two-terminal device that permits the flow of electric current in only one direction.

discriminator A circuit whose output voltage varies in magnitude and polarity in direct proportion to the difference between the input voltage and a standard signal.

dissipation The phenomenon associated with the attenuation of a propagating wave in a medium with material losses.

distortion Addition of an unwanted component to an electronic signal.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

E

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

domain Module or area of execution that is to be kept isolated from other domains.

paths between brushes is double that provided by a simplex winding.

duty cycle don’t care A function that can be taken either as a minterm or a maxterm at the convenience of the user.

The ratio of the turn-on time of a semiconductor switch to the sum of the turn-on and turn-off times.

dyed resist doping The process of introducing impurity atoms in to pure silicon to change its electrical properties.

A photoresist with an added non photosensitive chemical that absorbs light at the exposing wavelength.

dynamo Doppler effect A frequency shift in a received signal caused by time-variant transmission delay, or equivalently time-variant propagation path length.

down-sampling An operation that removes samples with certain indexes from a discrete time signal and then re-indexes the remaining samples.

A term used to describe any of a variety of rotating machines that convert mechanical to electrical energy, or less commonly, electrical to mechanical energy.

dynamometer A rotating device used to measure the steady-state torque and power output of rotating machines.

E

dropout Equipment misoperation due to an interruption, noise, or sag.

duplex A method of winding the armature of a commutated electric machine such that the number of parallel electrical

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

earthing An earth-connected electrical conducting connection that may be designed or non-intentionally created.

13 | P a g e

E

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

Eddy current

encoder

A circulating current in magnetic materials that is produced as a result of time-varying flux passing through a metallic magnetic material.

A logic circuit with 2N inputs and N outputs, the outputs indicating the number of the one input line that is asserted.

edge

encryption

A local intensity discontinuity, often corresponding to the boundary of an object, in an image.

The transformation employed to transform information to be transmitted (plaintext) into a format that is unintelligible.

efficiency The ratio of the input power to the output power. It is a figure of merit for the energy cost effectiveness of a device.

electrolyte Current-conducting solution between two electrodes or plates of a capacitor, at least one of which is covered by a dielectric.

energy That which does work or is capable of doing work. In electrical systems, it is generally a reference to electrical energy measured in kilo-watt hours.

entity A software process that implements a part of a protocol in a computer communication network.

electromagnet

error

A magnet that employs an electric current in a coil to produce a magnetic field.

Manifestation of a fault at logical level. For example, a physical short or breakmayresultinlogicalerrorofstuckat-0 or stuck-at-1 state of some signal in the considered circuit.

emulate Executing a program compiled to one instruction set on a microprocessor that usesanincompatibleinstructionset,bytr anslatingtheincompatibleinstructions whilethe program is running.

14 | P a g e

etching A reactive process where material is removed from a semiconductor device or printed circuit board.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

F

ethernet

ferromagnetic materials

A standard for interconnecting devices on a local area network (LAN).

In which internal magnetic moments spontaneously line up parallel to each other to form domains, resulting in permeabilities considerably higher than unity

exciter A DC source that supplies the field current to produce a magnetic flux in an electric machine.

extrinsic Associated with the outside or exterior. In devices and device modeling, extrinsic refers to that part of the device or model associated with the passive structures that provide interconnects and contacts to other components, but are still considered a part of the device.

F Farad The basic unit of measure in capacitors. A capacitor charged to 1 volt with a charge of 1 coulomb (1 ampere flowing for 1 second) has a capacitance of 1 farad.

feedback Signal or data that is sent back to a commanding unit from a control process output for use as input in subsequent operations.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

FET A majority carrier device that behaves like a bipolar transistor with the important difference that the gate has a very high input impedance and therefore draws no current.

fidelity A qualitative term used to describe how closely the output amplitude of a device faithfully reproduces that of its input.

field The member of an electrical machine that provides the main magnetic flux, which then interacts with the armature causing the desired machine operation.

fifo A queuing discipline whereby the entries in a queue are removed in the same order as that in which they joined the queue.

filter A network, usually composed of inductors and capacitors (for lumped circuit), or transmission lines of 15 | P a g e

F

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

varying length and characteristic impedance (for distributed circuit), that passes AC signals over a certain frequency range while blocking signals at other frequencies.

produced by absorption of radiation with a wavelength shorter than the emitted light.

flux Software that cannot be modified by the end user.

Lines that indicate the intensity and direction of a field. Intensity is usually represented by the density of the lines.

flag

FM

A bit used to set or reset some condition or state in assembly language or machine language.

Angle modulation in which the instantaneous frequency of a sinewave carrier is caused to depart from the carrier frequency by an amount proportional to the instantaneous value of the modulating wave.

firmware

flashover Arcing between segments of the commutator of a DC machine.

flip-flop A basic digital device capable of storing one bit of information (1 or 0).

flowchart A traditional graphic representation of an algorithm or a program, in using named functional blocks (rectangles), decision evaluators (diamonds), and I/O symbols (paper, disk) interconnected by directional arrows which indicate the flow of processing. Also called flow diagram.

frequency The repetition rate of a periodic signal used to represent or process a communication signal. Frequency is expressed in units of hertz (hz).

fringing The portion of the flux at the air gap in a magnetic circuit that does not follow the shortest path between the poles.

full adder A combinational logic circuit that produces a two-bit sum of three onebit binary numbers.

fluorescence Emission of light from an electronically excited state that was 16 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

function A programming construct that creates its own frame on a stack, accepting arguments, performing some computation, and returning a result.

fuse An overcurrent device that employs one or more fusible elements in series.

G

closed surface is equal to the total electric/magnetic charge enclosed.

generator Electromechanical devices that convert mechanical power into electrical power, typically via Faraday induction effects between moving and stationary current carrying coils and/or magnets.

genlock

G g (giga)

A shortened term for “generator lock,” meaning that one sync generator system is locked to another.

A prefix indicating a quantity of 109.

glitch

gain

An incorrect state of a signal that lasts a short time compared to the clock period of the circuit.

The ratio of the output variable of a device to its input variable.

galloping A low-frequency vibration of electric power lines caused by wind.

gate A logical or physical entity that performs one logical operation, such as AND, NOT, or OR.

Gauss’ law Fundamental law of electromagnetic field that states that the total electric/magnetic flux through a General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

governor A device connected to a rotating machine by which the speedregulating system is automatically adjusted to maintain constant speed under various load conditions.

grip A twisted wire tie which secures a wire to an insulator or other fixture.

ground The electrical “zero” state, used as the reference voltage in computer systems. 17 | P a g e

H

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

guy A wire which extends at an angle from a utility pole to the ground in order to brace the pole against toppling due to unbalanced forces from the utility lines it supports.

H

of the basic frequency (or fundamental frequency).

hazard A momentary output error that occurs in a logic circuit because of input signal propagation along different delay paths in the circuit.

heap hacker A person who explores computer and communication systems, usually for intellectual challenge, commonly applied to those who try to circumvent security barriers (crackers).

halfadder A logic circuit that produces the sum and carry outputs for two input signals. A half adder has no carry input.

Data storage structure that accepts items of various sizes and is not ordered. Contrast with stack.

hole fictitious positive charge representing the motion of electrons in the valence band of a semiconductor; the number of holes equals the number of unoccupied quantum states in the valence band.

hot An energized conductor.

Hall effect The phenomenon whereby charge carriers are displaced perpendicularly to their drift velocity when current flows in the presence of a magnetic field.

harmonic The sinusoidal component of a periodic waveform that has a frequency equal to an integer multiple

18 | P a g e

hunting A mechanical oscillation in the speed of a synchronous machine due to changes in the load. Damper windings are used to reduce the hunting by providing a torque that opposes the change in speed.

hybrid circuit A circuit based on at least two different technologies. For instance, a General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

I

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons circuit built by using solid state circuits and tubes.

hydrophone Receiving sensors that convert sound energy into electrical or optical energy (analogous to underwater microphones).

hydropower Conversion of potential energy of water into electricity using generators coupled to impulse or reaction water turbines.

hysteresis The phenomenon that the magnetic state of a substance is dependent upon its magnetic history, so that its magnetization for an increasing magnetizing force differs from that for a decreasing magnetizing force.

I

IEEE A professional organization of electrical engineers and computer scientists. The world’s largest professional organization.

immittance A response function for which one variable is a voltage and the other a current.

impedance Electrical property of a network that measures its ability to conduct electrical AC current for a given AC voltage.

increment To add a constant value (usually 1) to a variable or a register. Pointers to memory are usually incremented by the size of the data item pointed to.

independence A complete absence of any dependence between statistical quantities.

i/o Input/output. Operations or devices that provide data to or accept data from a computer.

idempotent

index That part of memory address used to access the locations in the cache, generally the next most significant bits of the address after the tag.

An operator is idempotent if applying it twice gives the same result as applying it only once. General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

19 | P a g e

I

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

inductance

instar

A parameter that describes the ability of a device to store magnetic flux. The units are henrys per meter.

A term used for a neuron fed by a set of inputs through synaptic weights.

inductor

instruction

A two-terminal electrical element that satisfies a prescribed algebraic relationship in the flux-current (φ−I)plane.

Specification of a collection of operations that may be treated as an atomic entity with a guarantee of no dependencies between these operations.

infinite bus

Integrated Circuit (IC)

An electrical supply with such large capacity that its voltage(and frequency, if AC) may be assumed constant, independent of load conditions.

An assembly of miniature electronic components simultaneously produced in batch processing, on or within a single substrate, that performs an electronic circuit function.

information A mathematical model of the amount of surprise contained in a message.

infrared (IR) Invisible electromagnetic radiation having wavelengths longer than those of red light; often considered to range from about 0.7 micrometers to 100 micrometers.

insolation Incident solar radiation.

instantaneous The range of 0.5 to 30 cycles of the supply frequency. 20 | P a g e

interface The set of rules specified for communicating with a defined entity.

interlock The mechanism that stalls a pipeline while a result needed in the pipeline is being produced.

interpole A set of small poles located midway between the main poles of a DC machine, containing a winding connected in series with the armature circuit. The interpole improves commutation by neutralizing the flux distortion in the neutral plane caused by armature reaction. General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

J

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

interpreter A computer program that translates and immediately performs intended operations of the source statements of a high-level language program.

interrupt An input to a processor that signals the occurrence of an asynchronous event. The processor’s response to an interrupt is to save the current machine state and execute a predefined subprogram.

of undesired changes in the system are not seen by the separated part.

J JFET A type of FET in which the high input resistance at the gate is achieved by use of a reverse biased p-n junction between the gate and the drainsource channel.

intrinsic

JK flip-flop

Term associated with the inside or interior. In devices and device modeling, intrinsic refers to that part of the device or model associated with the active semiconductor structures that control device operation, or provide the desired functions.

Device that uses two inputs (J and K) to control the state of its Q and Q0 outputs.

inversion When a positive (negative) voltage is applied between a conductor and a ptype (n-type) semiconductor separated by a thin dielectric layer, the majority carrier holes (electrons) are repelled and minority carrier electrons (holes) are trapped at the surface.

jumper A plug or wire used for setting the configuration of system.

K Kalman filter The method of recursively estimating the state vector of a linear dynamic system based on noisy output measurements.

isolation The separation of a part from other parts of the system so that the effects

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

21 | P a g e

L

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

Kirchoff’s laws

L

Laws that govern the relationships between voltages/currents in a circuit/network.

laddertron klystrode An amplifier device for UHFTV signals that combines aspects of a tetrode (grid modulation) with a klystron (velocity modulation of an electron beam).

KU-band

A microwave vacuum tube oscillator with a slow-wave structure coupled to a single-cavity resonator.

lag circuit A simple passive electronic circuit designed to add a dominant pole to compensate the performance of a given system.

Frequency band of approximately 11–12 ghz.

lamination Kva A measure of apparent power, often in the rating of a piece of equipment or the measure of an electrical load, which is obtained by multiplying the device voltage in kilovolts by the current in amperes.

KVL Kirchhoff’s voltage law a fundamental law of electricity that states that the sum of the voltage drops and rises in a closed loop must equal 0.

A thin sheet of metal used to build up the core of an electromagnetic device. Laminations are insulated from each other to reduce the losses associated with eddy currents.

lapwinding An armature winding on a DC machine in which the two ends of each coil are connected to adjacent bars on the commutator ring.

laser Acronym that stands for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Usually refers to an oscillator rather than an amplifier.

22 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

L

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

latch

linear

A small temporary holding cell for a value, the value on the input wires is buffered upon occurrence of some event, such as a clock pulse or rising edge of a separate latch signal.

A circuit or element in which the output spectrum is proportional through gain(s), attenuation(s) and delay(s) to the input spectrum, and in which no spectral shift, conversion or generation takes place.

lead A conductive path, usually selfsupporting; the portion of an electrical component that connects it to outside circuitry.

leader An elongated region of ionized gas that extends from one electrode to another just before a high-voltage breakdown.

leakage The flux in a magnetic circuit that does not do any useful work.

LED A forward biased p-n junction that emits light through spontaneous emission by a phenomenon termed electroluminescence.

literal A data type consisting of alphanumeric data.

lock A synchronization variable, used in shared-memory multiprocessors, that allows only one processor to hold it at any one time, thus enabling processors to guarantee that only one has access to key data structures or critical sections of code at any one time.

loop A set of branches forming a closed current path, provided that the omission of any branch eliminates the closed path.

limiter An equipment or circuit that has a function to keep output power constant.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

23 | P a g e

M

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

M

impedance to the characteristic impedance of said line and thus eliminate the presence of standing waves on the line.

m(mega) Abbreviationfor1,048,576(not for 1 million).

magnet Any object that can sustain an external magnetic field

magnetron Any arrangement of magnets in a sputter deposition or etch system that provides the magnetic field required to trap electrons in closed loops near the cathode, thus enhancing deposition/etch rates.

memory Area for storing computer instructions and data for either short-term or longterm purposes.

meshanalysis A circuit analysis technique in which KVL is used to determine the mesh currents in a network. A mesh is a loop that does not contain any loops within it.

metadyne A DC machine with more than two brush sets per pair of poles.

mask To specify a number of values that allow some entities in a set, and disallow the others in the set, from being active or valid.

microcode

master

microcontroller

The system component responsible for controlling a number of others (called slaves).

An integrated circuit chip that is designed primarily for control systems and products. In addition to a CPU, a microcontroller typically includes memory, timing circuits, and I/O circuitry.

matching

A collection of low-level operations that are executed as a result of a single instruction being issued.

When referring to circuits, the process by which a network is placed between a load and a transmission line in order to transform the load 24 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

microphone A device that converts acoustical signals into electrical signals.

microprocessor A CPU realized on an LSI or VLSI chip.

N

and single phase AC electric power systems, typically at or near the potential of the earth.

nibble Four bits of information.

node Acronym for modulation doped FET.

A symbol representing a physical connection between two electrical components in a circuit.

modulation

NOR gate

Variation of the amplitude or phase of an electromagnetic wave.

A logic circuit that performs the operation equivalent to the OR gate followed by the inverter.

modfet

motor An electromechanical device that converts electrical energy from a DC or an AC source into mechanical energy, usually in the form of rotary motion.

NOT A Boolean operation that returns the 1’s complement of the data to which it is applied.

notch

N NAND gate A logic circuit that performs the operation equivalent to the AND gate followed by the inverter.

A disturbance of the normal voltage waveform of duration less than 0.5 cycles, is of a polarity that is opposite to the waveform and is hence subtracted from the normal waveform with respect to the peak value of the disturbance voltage.

nullator neutral A conductor which completes the electric circuit from the load to the source in three-phase Y-connected General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

An idealized two-terminal network element that conducts no current and yet maintains zero volts across itself. 25 | P a g e

O

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

O octave A frequency ratio of two.

offset A sustained derivation or error due to an inherent characteristic of positioning controller action.

Ohm’s law

OPamp A high-gain DC coupled amplifier with a differential input and single-ended output. In nearly all amplifier applications, the op-amp is used with negative feedback (“closed-loop”), so that the closed-loop gain of the amplifier depends primarily on the feedback network components, and not on the op-amp itself. It is widely used as a basic building block in electronic designs.

optimization

A fundamental law which states that the voltage across a resistance is directly proportional to the current flowing through it.

Determining the values of the set of free parameters that minimizes or maximizes an objective function. The minimization or maximization may be subject to additional constraints.

one’s complement

optode

A representation of integer numbers in which a data word is organized such that negative numbers all contain a binary “one” in the leftmost bit while positive numbers contain a “zero” in the leftmost bit, and in which the negative numbers are the bit-bybit inverse of their positive equivalent.

A fiber optic sensor used to determine the concentration of a particular chemical species present in the sensor’s environment by utilizing spectroscopic changes in a sensing element placed at the end of the optical fiber.

open-loop gain

OR

The gain of an operational amplifier with no feedback applied.

The Boolean operator that implements the disjunction of two predicates.

operand

organic led

Specification of a storage location that provides data to or receives data from the operation.

A group of recently developed organic material that emits light in response to electrical input. Although

26 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

P

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons lower in efficiency, they have greater manufacturing flexibility than semiconductor led.

payload containing some data, and either a header or a trailer containing control information.

oscillator

parallel bus

A circuit that generates a repetitive series of pulses at a certain frequency.

A data communication path between parts of the system that has one line for each bit of data being transmitted.

overflow

parity

A data condition in arithmetic operations of signed numbers where the magnitude of a result exceeds the number of bits assigned to represent the magnitude.

Property of a binary sequence that determines if the number of 1’s in the sequence is either odd or even.

parking overload A situation that results in electrical equipment carrying more than its rated current. Placing too much electrical load on a generator or too much mechanical load on a motor would cause an overload.

P

On a bus, a priority scheme that allows a bus master to gain control of the bus without arbitration.

parsing The process of detecting whether a given string belongs to a given language, typically represented by grammars.

PCB

A junction between regions of the same bulk material that differ in the concentration of dopants, n-type on one side and p-type on the other.

A substrate made from insulating material that has one or more sandwiched metallic conductor layers applied that are etched to form interconnecting traces useful for interconnecting components.

packet

permeability

A unit of data which is sent over a network. A packet comprises a

Tensor relationship between the magnetic field vector and the

P-N junction

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

27 | P a g e

P

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

magnetic flux density vector in a medium with no hysteresis; flux density divided by the magnetic field in scalar media.

between the input and the measured actual output.

piezoelectric permeance The magnetic analog for conductance, indicating the ease with which magnetic flux will follow a certain path, which can be approximated by calculations based purely on magnetic circuit geometry.

phasor A complex number representing the amplitude and phase of a sinusoidal function.

Pertaining to a material that possesses a noncentrosymetric crystal structure that will generate charge on the application of a mechanical stress.

pin The electronic connection that allows connection between an integrated circuit or circuit board and some socket into which it is plugged.

pin diode photodetector Device capable of producing or modifying an electrical signal in proportion to the amount of light falling on the active area of the device.

photon A minimum energy quantum of light energy proportional to the frequency of the radiation.

A diode with a large intrinsic region sandwiched between p- and n-doped semiconducting regions.

pinch-off voltage The gate-to-source voltage at which the channel current is reduced to a very small predetermined level specified in milliamperes per millimeter.

pipelining PID A control scheme whereby the signal that drives the actuator equals the weighted sum of 1. The difference, 2. Time integral of the difference, and 3. Time derivative of the difference

28 | P a g e

A technique to increase the output. A long task is divided into components, and each component is distributed to one processor.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

P

plugging

propagation

A procedure to bring a three phase motor to an abrupt stop by reversing the direction of the rotating magnetic field in the airgap.

The motion of electromagnetic waves through a medium or free space.

prototyping poison Any material or process which absorbs neutrons and thus dampens a nuclear fission reaction, e.g., control rods.

polarity The notation used in the assignment of voltages. In dc generators, the polarity of the armature voltage can be reversed by either reversing its field current or by rotating the generator in reverse direction.

potential An auxiliary scalar or vector field that mathematically simplifies the solution process associated with vector boundary value problems.

power A measurable quantity that is the time rate of increase or decrease in energy. Units are in watts.

primemover The system that provides the mechanical power input for a mechanical-to electrical energy conversion system. General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Building an engineering model of all or part of a system to prove that the concept works.

pseudo code A technique for specifying the logic of a program in an English-like language. Pseudo code does not have to follow any syntax rules and can be read by anyone who understands programming logic.

pulse A sudden change of an electrical value of short duration with a quick return to the original value.

PWM A control technique used in variable speed DC, AC, or other electrical variable speed drives to control the harmonic content of the applied voltage or current. Typically, the pulse width is modulated in three ways, trailingedge modulation, leading-edge modulation, and double-edge modulation. Most popular is sinusoidal PWM for AC drives.

29 | P a g e

Q

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

pyroelectric

radiation

A polar dielectric material in which the internal dipole moment is temperature dependent.

The phenomenon by which sources generate energy, which propagates away from them in the form of waves.

Q quadword

radix The base number in a number system. Decimal (radix 10) and binary (radix 2) are two example number systems.

A data unit formed from four words.

RAM quantization The process of converting amplitude values that can take on many different values (infinitely many for analog signals) into a finite (or more coarse) representation.

R radar An instrument that transmits electromagnetic waves and receives properties of the reflected electromagnetic wave from the target, which can be used to determine the nature and distance to the target. Radar is an acronym that stands for radio detection and ranging.

Direct access read/write storage in which each addressable unit has a unique hardwired addressing mechanism. The time to access a randomly selected location is constant and not dependent on its position or on any previous accesses.

RC time constant The time needed for signal traveling from an end to the other end of a wire is constant when the wire and the whole chip is scaled down.

reactance grounded An electrical system in which the neutral is intentionally grounded through a reactance. Frequently used in the neutral of generators and transformers to limit the magnitude of line to ground fault currents.

reactive load A load that is purely capacitive or inductive. 30 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

S

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

real power

resonance

The power dissipated by the source in the network.

In an RLC circuit, the resonance is the state at which the reactance of the inductor, XL, and the reactance of the capacitor, XC, are equal.

register A circuit formed from identical flipflops or latches and capable of storing several bits of data.

regulation The change in voltage from no load to full-load expressed as a percentage of full-load voltage.

relay A device that opens or closes a contact when energized.

reluctance The resistance to magnetic flux in a magnetic circuit; analogous to resistance in an electrical circuit.

ripple The AC (time-varying) portion of the output signal from a rectifier circuit.

rotor The rotating part of an electrical machine including the shaft, such as the rotating armature of a DC machine or the field of a synchronous machine.

RS flip-flop A single-bit storage element, usually formed by connecting two NOR or NAND gates in series. RS stands for reset– set.

S

remanence In a ferromagnetic material, the value of the magnetic flux density when the magnetic field intensity is zero.

resistance Ratio of the potential of an electrical current applied to a given conductor to the current intensity value.

sag A decline ranging from 0.1 to 0.9 pu in RMS voltage or current at the supply frequency for a time period of 0.5 cycles to 1 minute.

saturation The failure of the output to increase as fast as the input.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

31 | P a g e

S

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

schottky diode A two-terminal junction barrier device formed by a junction of a semiconductor and a metal. These diodes are widely used in integrated circuit applications and in very high frequency mixer and multipliers. Also called hot-carrier diode.

self-bias A technique employed whereby a transistor only needs a single bias supply voltage between the drain terminal and ground.

semiconductor A material in which electrons in the outermost shell are able to migrate from atom to atom when a modest amount of energy is applied.

position and/or rate and measured actual position and/or rate to achieve the conformance.

short circuit A condition on the power system where energized conductors come in contact (or generate an arc by coming in close proximity) with each other or with ground, allowing (typically large) fault currents to flow.

shunt A device having appreciable impedance connected in parallel across other devices

sinusoid A periodic signal x(t) = cos(ωt+θ)where ω = 2πf with frequency in hertz.

sensor A transducer or other device whose input is a physical phenomenon and whose output is a quantitative measurement of that physical phenomenon.

skin effect

serial port

slip

A communications interface that supports bit by bit data transmission.

In an induction motor, slip is defined as the ratio of the slip speed to the synchronous speed.

servomechanism A closed-loop control system consisting of a motor driven by a signal that is a function of the difference between commanded 32 | P a g e

The tendency of an alternating current to concentrate in the areas of lowest impedance.

sole A nonemitting cathode.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

T

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

solenoid

switch

A wound cylindrical and magnetic material assembly used typically for producing linear motions.

A device that allows current flow when closed and provides isolation when open.

spectrum

sync generator

A range of electromagnetic energy ordered in accordance with their relative periodicity.

Signal generator that is designed to produce a specified signal waveform in order to synchronize a specific electronic device or system.

spice A computer simulation program developed by the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975. Versions are available from several companies. The program is particularly advantageous for electronic circuit analysis, since DC, AC, transient, noise, and statistical analysis is possible.

synchronization A situation when two or more processes coordinate their activities based upon a condition.

T

stator

tachometer

The portion of a motor that includes and supports the stationary active parts. The stator includes the stationary portions of the magnetic circuit and the associated windings and leads.

A instrument used to measure the speed of a rotating device.

surge A short-duration (microsecond to millisecond) increase in power line voltage. Also called a spike or an impulse.

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

terminator A device connected to the physical end of a signal line that prevents the unwanted reflection of the signal back to its source.

threshold The limiting value of some variable of interest.

33 | P a g e

U

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

thyristor

transmitter

A controllable four-layer (pnpn) power semiconductor switching device that can only be on or off, with no intermediate operating states like transistors.

Equipment used to generate an RF carrier signal, modulate this signal and radiate it into space.

triac token Device that generates or assists in generation of one-time security code/passwords.

tolerance The total amount by which a quantity is allowed to vary.

A power switch that is functionally a pair of converter-grade thyristors connected in anti-parallel. Triacs are mainly used in phase control applications such as dimmer switches for lighting.

tunnel diode

torque

A PN diode structure that uses band to band tunneling to produce a terminal negative differential resistance.

The product of a force acting at a distance. The output of an electric motor.

tunnelling

transducer

A physical phenomenon whereby an electron can move instantly through a thin dielectric.

A device that converts a physical quantity into an electrical signal.

U

transmission The act of sending information from one location to another.

transmittance Ratio of the complex amplitude of a transmitted wave to the complex amplitude of the corresponding incident wave at a transmitting surface. 34 | P a g e

uart Universal asynchronous receiver/ transmitter.

ultraviolet A term referring to wavelengths shorter than 400 nm, but longer than 30 nm. The region 400–300 nm is the General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons near ultraviolet, 300–200 is the middle ultraviolet; and 200–30 nm is the far ultraviolet or vacuum.

underexcited A condition of operating a synchronous machine, in which the current to the DC field winding is insufficient to establish the required magnetic flux in the airgap.

underflow A condition in a floating-point system where the result of an operation is nonzero yet too small in absolute value to be properly represented in the system.

unpolarised

V

depletion region as a tuning element or as a nonlinear frequency multiplier.

variance The mean-squared variability of a random variable about its mean.

volatile Pertaining to a memory or storage device that loses its storage capability when power is removed.

voltage The potential to do work, voltage is the ratio of the energy available to the charge, expressed in volts.

voltmeter

If the amplitude of the wave in plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation appears to be oriented in all directions.

An instrument for measuring a potential difference between different points of an electrical circuit. Units are volts.

V vagueness A property indicating the lack of specifics and clarity and which is allied to imprecision and fuzziness.

W wafer A thin slice of semiconductor material on which semiconductor devices are made. Also called a slice or substrate.

varactor A reverse biased PN or Schottky diode that uses the voltage variable General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

35 | P a g e

X

Section 1 | Electrical Engineering Jargons

watt

XOR

Unit of power in the SI system of units

Gate a logic gate that performs the exclusive-OR function. Exclusive OR is defined for two inputs as one or the other being true but not both.

wattmeter An instrument for measuring electric power in watts. A wattmeter requires connections to measure both the current through and the voltage across the load being measured.

Y Y connection

wavelength A constant that describes the distance a periodic wave must travel in order to repeat itself.

A three-phase source or load which is connected such that the elements are connected in parallel and are thus represented in a schematic diagram in a Y or star–shaped configuration.

whetstone The speed of a processor as measured by the Whetstone benchmark.

yield Percentage of acceptably good chips to the total chips.

Z

winding A conductive path, usually wire, inductively coupled to a magnetic core or cell.

X

zener diode Zener diode a pn-junction diode that has an abrupt rise in current at a reverse-bias voltage.

X-ray Short wavelength electromagnetic radiation; often considered to range from about 0.1 to 100 ˚A.

36 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 2: 100 English Vocabulary building words

37 | P a g e

Section 2 | 100 English Vocabulary building words a b (When Jerry cries, his mother gives him chocolate to appease him.) er aberration (n.) rasomething that differs from the norm arcane (Inti 1974, Poland won the World Cup, (adj.) obscure, secret, known only by but the success turned out to be an a few (The professor is an expert in aberration, and Poland have not won o arcane Kashubian literature.) a World Cup since). n

abhor

avarice

(v.) to hate, detest (Because he always wound up getting hit in the head when he tried to play cricket, Marcin began to abhor the sport).

(n.) excessive greed (The banker’s avarice led him to amass an enormous personal fortune.)

brazen acquiesce (v.) to agree without protesting (Though Mr. Pospieszny wanted to stay outside and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner, he acquiesced to her demands.)

alacrity (n.) eagerness, speed (For some reason, Simon loved to help his girlfriend whenever he could, so when his girlfriend asked him to set the table he did so with alacrity.)

(adj.) excessively bold, brash, clear and obvious (Critics condemned the writer’s brazen attempt to plagiarise Frankow-Czerwonko’s work.)

brusque (adj.) short, abrupt, dismissive (Simon’s brusque manner sometimes offends his colleagues.)

cajole (v.) to urge, coax (Magda's friends cajoled her into drinking too much.)

amiable (adj.) friendly (An amiable fellow, Neil got along with just about everyone.)

callous (adj.) harsh, cold, unfeeling (The murderer’s callous lack of remorse shocked the jury.)

appease (v.) to calm, satisfy 38 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

c distraught to deliver a coherent a statement.) n d complacency or (n.) self-satisfied ignorance of danger

Section 2 | 100 English Vocabulary building words

candor (n.) honesty, frankness (We were surprised by the candor of the politician’s speech because she is usually rather evasive.)

chide (v.) to voice disapproval (Hania chided Gregory for his vulgar habits and sloppy appearance.)

(Simon tried to shock his friends out of their complacency by painting a frightening picture of what might happen to them.)

confidant circumspect (adj.) cautious (Though I promised Marta’s father I would bring her home promptly by midnight, it would have been more circumspect not to have specified a time.)

(n.) a person entrusted with secrets (Shortly after we met, he became my chief confidant.)

connive (v.) to plot, scheme (She connived to get me to give up my plans to start up a new business.)

clandestine (adj.) secret (Announcing to her boyfriend that she was going to the library, Maria actually went to meet George for a clandestine liaison.)

cumulative (adj.) increasing, building upon itself (The cumulative effect of hours spent using the World English website was a vast improvement in his vocabulary and general level of English.)

coerce (v.) to make somebody do something by force or threat (The court decided that David Beckham did not have to honor the contract because he had been coerced into signing it.)

coherent (adj.) logically consistent, intelligible (William could not figure out what Harold had seen because he was too

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

debase (v.) to lower the quality or esteem of something (The large raise that he gave himself debased his motives for running the charity.)

decry (v.) to criticize openly (Andrzej Lepper, the leader of the Polish Self

39 | P a g e

Section 2 | 100 English Vocabulary building words d ef party decried the appaling Defence eloquent state of Polish roads.) er (adj.) expressive, articulate, moving (The best man gave such an e eloquent speech that most guests deferential were crying.) nt showing respect for another’s (adj.) authority (Donata is always ia excessively deferential to any kind of embezzle authority figure.) l (v.) to steal money by falsifying

demure (adj.) quiet, modest, reserved (Though everyone else at the party was dancing and going crazy, she remained demure.)

deride (v.) to laugh at mockingly, scorn (The native speaker often derided the other teacher’s accent.)

records (The accountant was fired for embezzling €10,000 of the company’s funds.)

empathy (n.) sensitivity to another’s feelings as if they were one’s own (I feel such empathy for my dog when she’s upset so am I!)

enmity despot (n.) one who has total power and rules brutally (The despot issued a death sentence for anyone who disobeyed his laws.)

diligent

(n.) ill will, hatred, hostility (John and Scott have clearly not forgiven each other, because the enmity between them is obvious to anyone in their presence.)

erudite

(adj.) showing care in doing one’s work (The diligent researcher made sure to double check her measurements.)

(adj.) learned (My English teacher is such an erudite scholar that he has translated some of the most difficult and abstruse Old English poetry.)

elated

extol

(adj.) overjoyed, thrilled (When he found out he had won the lottery, the postman was elated.)

(v.) to praise, revere (Kamila extolled the virtues of a vegetarian diet to her meat-loving boyfriend.)

40 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

fa br gluttony ic (n.) overindulgence in food or drink (Helen’s fried chicken tastes so at divine, I don’t know how anyone can call gluttony a sin.) e

Section 2 | 100 English Vocabulary building words

fabricate (v.) to make up, invent (When I arrived an hour late to class, I fabricated some excuse about my car breaking down on the way to work.)

feral

gratuitous

(adj.) wild, savage (That beast looks so feral that I would fear being alone with it.)

(adj.) uncalled for, unwarranted (Every evening the guy at the fish and chip shop gives me a gratuitous helping of vinegar.)

flabbergasted

haughty

(adj.) astounded (Whenever I read an Agatha Christie mystery novel, I am always flabbergasted when I learn the identity of the murderer.)

(adj.) disdainfully proud (The superstar’s haughty dismissal of her co-stars will backfire on her someday.)

forsake (v.) to give up, renounce (I won't forsake my conservative principles.)

fractious (adj.) troublesome or irritable (Although the child insisted he wasn’t tired, his fractious behaviour especially his decision to crush his jam sandwiches all over the floor convinced everyone present that it was time to put him to bed.)

furtive (adj.) secretive, sly (Claudia’s placement of her drugs in her sock drawer was not as furtive as she thought, as the sock drawer is the first place most parents look.) General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

hypocrisy (n.) pretending to believe what one does not (Once the politician began passing legislation that contradicted his campaign promises, his hypocrisy became apparent.)

impeccable (adj.) exemplary, flawless (If your grades were as impeccable as your brother’s, then you too would receive a car for a graduation present.)

impertinent (adj.) rude, insolent (Most of your comments are so impertinent that I don’t wish to dignify them with an answer.)

41 | P a g e

Section 2 | 100 English Vocabulary building words i m implacable inhibit pl (adj.) incapable of being appeased or (v.) to prevent, restrain, stop mitigated (When I told you I needed the car last a out: once you shun (Watch night, I certainly never meant to Grandmother’s cooking, she is totally inhibit you from going out.) c implacable.) a innate impudent bl (adj.) inborn, native, inherent (adj.) casually rude, insolent, (His incredible athletic talent is e impertinent (The impudent young innate, he never trains, lifts weights, woman looked her teacher up and down and told him he was hot.)

incisive (adj.) clear, sharp, direct (The discussion wasn’t going anywhere until her incisive comment allowed everyone to see what the true issues were.)

or practices.)

insatiable (adj.) incapable of being satisfied (My insatiable appetite for blondes was a real problem on my recent holiday in Japan!)

insular indolent (adj.) lazy (Why should my indolent children, who can’t even pick themselves up off the sofa to pour their own juice, be rewarded with a trip to Burger King?)

inept (adj.) not suitable or capable, unqualified (She proved how inept she was when she forgot two orders and spilled a pint of cider in a customer’s lap.)

(adj.) separated and narrow-minded; tight-knit, closed off (Because of the sensitive nature of their jobs, those who work for MI5 must remain insular and generally only spend time with each other.)

intrepid (adj.) brave in the face of danger (After scaling a live volcano prior to its eruption, the explorer was praised for his intrepid attitude.)

inveterate infamy (n.) notoriety, extreme ill repute (The infamy of his crime will not lessen as time passes.)

42 | P a g e

(adj.) stubbornly established by habit (I’m the first to admit that I’m an inveterate cider drinker—I drink four pints a day.)

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

ju bi meticulous la (adj.) extremely careful with details (The ornate needlework in the bride’s nt gown was a product of meticulous

Section 2 | 100 English Vocabulary building words

jubilant (adj.) extremely joyful, happy (The crowd was jubilant when the firefighter carried the woman from the flaming building.)

handiwork.)

knell

modicum

(n.) the solemn sound of a bell, often indicating a death (Echoing throughout our village, the funeral knell made the grey day even more grim.)

(n.) a small amount of something (Refusing to display even a modicum of sensitivity, Magda announced her boss’s affair to the entire office.)

lithe (adj.) graceful, flexible, supple (Although the dancers were all outstanding, Joanna’s control of her lithe body was particularly impressive.)

lurid (adj.) ghastly, sensational (Barry’s story, in which he described a character torturing his neighbour's tortoise, was judged too lurid to be published on the English Library's website.)

maverick (n.) an independent, nonconformist person (John is a real maverick and always does things his own way.)

maxim (n.) a common saying expressing a principle of conduct (Ms. Stone’s etiquette maxims are both entertaining and instructional.)

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

morose (adj.) gloomy or sullen (David’s morose nature made him very unpleasant to talk to.)

myriad (adj.) consisting of a very great number (It was difficult to decide what to do on Saturday night because the city presented us with myriad possibilities for fun.)

nadir (n.) the lowest point of something (My day was boring, but the nadir came when my new car was stolen.)

nominal (adj.) trifling, insignificant (Because he was moving the following week and needed to get rid of his furniture more than he needed money, Kim sold everything for a nominal price.)

43 | P a g e

Section 2 | 100 English Vocabulary building words n o novice panacea vi (n.) a beginner, someone without (n.) a remedy for all ills or difficulties training or experience (Doctors wish there was a single c we were all novices at (Because panacea for every disease, but sadly archery, our instructor decided to there is not.) e with the basics begin

nuance (n.) a slight variation in meaning, tone, expression (The nuances of the poem were not obvious to the casual reader, but the teacher was able to point them out.)

oblivious (adj.) lacking consciousness or awareness of something (Oblivious to the burning smell emanating from the kitchen, my father did not notice that the rolls in the oven were burned until much too late.)

obsequious (adj.) excessively compliant or submissive (Donald acted like Susan’s servant, obeying her every request in an obsequious manner.)

obtuse (adj.) lacking quickness of sensibility or intellect (Political opponents warned that the prime minister’s obtuse approach to foreign policy would embroil the nation in mindless war.)

44 | P a g e

parody (n.) a satirical imitation (A hush fell over the classroom when the teacher returned to find Magdalena acting out a parody of his teaching style.)

penchant (n.) a tendency, partiality, preference (Fiona’s dinner parties quickly became monotonous on account of her penchant for Indian dishes.)

perusal (n.) a careful examination, review (The actor agreed to accept the role after a three-month perusal of the movie script.)

plethora (n.) an abundance, excess (The wedding banquet included a plethora of oysters piled almost three feet high.)

predilection (n.) a preference or inclination for something (James has a predilection for eating toad in the whole with tomato ketchup.)

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

q u serendipity ai (n.) luck, finding good things without looking for them (In an amazing bit of serendipity,nt

Section 2 | 100 English Vocabulary building words

quaint (adj.) charmingly old-fashioned (Mary was delighted by the quaint bonnets she saw in Romania.)

penniless Mark found a $50 bill on the back seat of the bus.)

rash (adj.) hasty, incautious (It’s best to think things over calmly and thoroughly, rather than make rash decisions.)

staid (adj.) sedate, serious, self-restrained (The staid butler never changed his expression no matter what happened.)

refurbish (v.) to restore, clean up (After being refurbished the old Triumph motorcycle commanded the handsome price of $6000.)

superfluous (adj.) exceeding what is necessary (Samantha had already won the campaign so her constant flattery of others was superfluous.)

repudiate (v.) to reject, refuse to accept (Tom made a strong case for an extension of his curfew, but his mother repudiated it with a few biting words.)

sycophant (n.) one who flatters for self-gain (Some see the people in the cabinet as the Prime Minister’s closest advisors, but others see them as sycophants.)

rife (adj.) abundant (Surprisingly, the teacher’s writing was rife with spelling errors.)

taciturn (adj.) not inclined to talk (Though Magda never seems to stop talking, her brother is quite taciturn.)

salient (adj.) significant, conspicuous (One of the salient differences between Alison and Helen is that Alison is a couple of kilos heavier.)

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

truculent (adj.) ready to fight, cruel (This club doesn’t really attract the dangerous types, so why was that bouncer being so truculent?)

45 | P a g e

Section 2 | 100 English Vocabulary building u m umbrage brresentment, offence (n.) (He called me a lily-livered coward, aI took umbrage at the insult.) and g venerable e

words

(adj.) deserving of respect because of age or achievement (The venerable High Court judge had made several key rulings in landmark cases throughout the years.)

vex (v.) to confuse or annoy (My boyfriend vexes me by pinching my bottom for hours on end.)

vociferous (adj.) loud, boisterous (I’m tired of his vociferous whining so I’m breaking up with him.)

wanton (adj.) undisciplined, lewd, lustful (Joanna’s wanton demeanor often made the frat guys next door very excited.)

zenith (n.) the highest point, culminating point (I was too nice to tell Emily that she had reached the absolute zenith of her career with that one top 10 hit of hers.)

46 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 3: Word synonyms and antonyms

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

47 | P a g e

Section 3 | Word synonyms and antonyms Words

|

Synonyms

|

Antonyms

Adjacent

Nearby, neighbouring

Faraway, distant, remote

Alight

Dismount, descend, land

Mount, ascend, board

Alliance

Pact, league, coalition

Rift, split

Anecdote

Tale, story, sketch, vignette

Appurtenances

Animated

Energetic, vigorous

Dull, lifeless, dead, flat

Answer

Question

Respond

Available

Obtainable, at hand

Unobtainable, not to be had

Barren

Unproductive, sterile, arid

Fertile, productive, fruitful

Bewilder

Baffle, perplex

Set straight, enlighten

Buffoon

Jester, fool

Tragedian

Cater

Pamper, indulge, provide

Frustrate, deny, refuse

Consolidate

Strengthen, firm up, merge

Scatter, disperse, dissipate

Controversial

Arguable, debatable

Undisputed

Counterfeit

False, phony, bogus

Genuine, real, authentic

Culminate

Conclude, terminate

Begin, initiate, commence

Customary

Regular, normal, traditional

Strange, odd, unusual

Disrupt

Upset, displace, disorder

Organize, arrange

48 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 3 | Word synonyms and antonyms Words

|

Synonyms

|

Antonyms

Dissuade

Discourage, talk out of

Persuade, talk into

Docile

Manageable, teachable

Unruly, wayward, disobedient

Dominate

Control, govern, overlook

Surrender

Drone

Bum, do-nothing

Hard worker, workaholic

Dry

Arid

Wet

Dynasty

Ruling house, regime

Democracy

Entreat

Plead, beseech

Clamour for

Fallible

Imperfect, errant

Fool proof, unfailing, flawless

Fickle

Capricious, faithless

Constant, steady, invariable

Firebrand

Hothead, agitator

Pacifier, conciliator

Foe

Enemy

Friend

Foggy

Hazy

Clear

Foretaste

Preview, anticipation

Progeny

Fruitless

Useless, unproductive, futile

Productive, effective

Fugitive

Runaway, deserter, elusive

Lasting, enduring, permanent

Gaudy

Understated

Garish

Germinate

Sprout, shoot up, grow

Wither, die, stagnate

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

49 | P a g e

Section 3 | Word synonyms and antonyms Words

|

Synonyms

|

Antonyms

Goad

Prod, spur-on, incite

Curb, check, restrain

Grimy

Filthy, sooty, soiled

Spotless, immaculate

Hazard

Danger

Protection

Homicide

Manslaughter, murder

Birth

Hostile

None

Friendly, cordial, peaceful

Humdrum

Uneventful, boring

Lively, exciting, thrilling

Hurtle

Speed, fly, race, catapult

Crawl, creep

Indifference

Apathy, unconcern

Interest, concern, enthusiasm

Indignant

Offended, resentful, outraged,

Pleased, delighted, overjoyed

Indispensable

Essential, vital, concern

Unnecessary, nonessential

Indulge

Oblige, humour, coddle

Deny, refuse

Inflammable

Combustible, excitable

Fireproof, fire-resistant, calm

Inflict

Deal out, visit upon

Suffer, undergo, sustain

Insinuate

Imply, intimate

Barge in, broadcast

Interminable

Never-ending, ceaseless

Brief, short, fleeting

Interrogate

Question, query

Respond

Iota

Speck, dab, jot, bit, smidgen

Flood, deluge, glut

50 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 3 | Word synonyms and antonyms Words

|

Synonyms

|

Antonyms

Literate

Educated, trained

Unschooled, ignorant

Lose

Misplace

Find

Lubricate

Oil, grease

Dry

Lustre

Gloss, sheen, shine

Tarnish, dullness

Malignant

Lethal, wicked

Wholesome, beneficial

Maul

Rough up, manhandle, batter

Guard

Miscellaneous

Varied, assorted, motley

Identical, uniform

Mortify

Humiliate, embarrass, abash

Honour

Mutual

Two-sided, joint, shared

One-sided, unilateral

Orthodox

Traditional, standard

Unusual, uncongenial

Peevish

Crabby, cranky, testy

Agreeable, amiable

Pelt

Bombard, shower, pepper

Damp, dew

Plague

Epidemic, pestilence

Boon, blessing

Poised

Self-confident, ready

Nervous, tense

Potential

Possibility, capability

Actual, real, impossible

Procure

Gain, acquire, achieve

Abandon, lose

Radiant

Glowing, brilliant, dazzling

Dull, tarnished, lacklustre

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

51 | P a g e

Section 3 | Word synonyms and antonyms Words

|

Synonyms

|

Antonyms

Recompense

Repay

Receive

Regime

Administration, rule

Commotion

Renovate

Repair, fix up, recondition

Annihilate

Resume

Continue

Stop

Retard

Slow down, restrain, impede

Hasten, speed up

Rural

Countrified, rustic

Urban, metropolitan, citified

Scurry

Rush, dash, scramble

Trudge, plod, creep, crawl

Seethe

Peaceful

Chaotic

Singe

Scorch, scar, sear

Incinerate

Sodden

Drenched, saturated

Parched, arid

Spirited

Lively, animated, gallant

Lifeless, dull, lacklustre

Substantial

Considerable, tangible, big

Minor, insignificant

Sullen

Grumpy, surly, remote

Cheerful, blithe, sociable

Tactful

Skilful, diplomatic, discreet

Clumsy, gauche, boorish

Tamper

Fool with, mess with

Expound, smother

Thrilled

Excited

Depressed

Transparent

Clear, translucent, obvious

Frosted, sooty, smoky, unclear

52 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 3 | Word synonyms and antonyms Words

|

Synonyms

|

Antonyms

Trickle

Dribble, drizzle, drip

Rush, pour, flood

Trivial

Insignificant, petty, trifling

Important, weighty

Truce

Cease-fire, armistice

War, warfare, fighting

Ultimate

Farthest, furthest, terminal

First, initial, most immediate

Uncertainty

Doubtfulness, hesitation

Sureness, certainty

Unique

Unparalleled, distinctive

Ordinary, commonplace

Unscathed

Unhurt, sound, intact

Injured, damaged, harmed

Upright

Perpendicular, virtuous

Dishonest, corrupt

Verify

Prove, validate, substantiate

Disprove, refute, discredit

Vicious

Wicked, malicious, savage

Good, kind, kindly, harmless

Virtual

Functioning as, equivalent to

Factual, real

Void

Invalid, vacant, bare

In effect, teeming with

Wayward

Perverse

Docile, well-behaved

Wince

Flinch, shudder, recoil

Languish

Zenith

Acme, apogee, pinnacle

Nadir

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

53 | P a g e

Section 4: Word Families

54 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 4 | Word Families Words

|

Families

ack

attack, back, black, crack, hack, hack, knack, lack, pack, quack, rack, sack

ad

ad, bad, brad, cad, clad, dad, doodad, glad, had, lad, mad, pad

age

age, cage, engage, rage, sage, stage, wage

ail

ail, fail, hail, jail, mail, nail, pail, rail, sail, snail, tail, wail

ain

brain, chain, complain, explain, gain, grain, main, obtain, pain, plain, rain, slain

ake

awake, bake, brake, cake, fake, flake, Jake, lake, make, quake, rake, sake

ale

ale, bale, dale, gale, kale, male, pale, sale, scale, stale, tale, whale

all

all, ball, call, fall, gall, hall, install, mall, small, squall, stall, tall

am

cam, clam, dam, dram, exam, gram, ham, jam, lam, ma'am, Pam, ram

ame

blame, came, fame, flame, frame, game, lame, name, same, shame, tame, tame

an

an, ban, bran, can, clan, Dan, fan, flan, Fran, Jan, Japan, man

ank

bank, blank, crank, dank, drank, flank, frank, Hank, plank, prank, rank, sank

ap

cap, clap, flap, gap, lap, map, nap, rap, sap, scrap, slap, snap

ar

afar, bar, car, czar, far, gar, guitar, jar, mar, par, scar, spar

ash

ash, bash, brash, cash, clash, crash, dash, flash, gash, gnash, hash, lash

at

at, bat, brat, cat, chat, fat, flat, gnat, hat, mat, pat, rat

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

55 | P a g e

Section 4 | Word Families Words ate aw ay eat eel eep eet ell en ent est ice ick ide ife ight ile

|

Families

abate, ate, crate, date, debate, fate, gate, grate, hate, Kate, late, mate caw, claw, draw, flaw, gnaw, jaw, law, paw, raw, saw, slaw, straw away, bay, bray, clay, day, decay, delay, display, flay, gay, gray, hay beat, cheat, cleat, eat, feat, greet, heat, meat, neat, peat, pleat, seat eel, feel, heel, keel, kneel, peel, reel, steel, wheel beep, creep, deep, jeep, keep, peep, seep, sheep, sleep, steep, sweep, weep beet, feet, fleet, greet, meet, sheet, sleet, street, sweet, tweet bell, cell, dell, dwell, farewell, fell, hell, sell, shell, smell, spell, swell amen, Ben, children, den, fen, gentlemen, glen, Gwen, hen, men, open, pen accent, bent, cent, dent, event, gent, lent, rent, scent, sent, spent, tent best, chest, crest, jest, nest, pest, quest, rest, test, unrest, vest, west dice, ice, mice, nice, price, rice, slice, spice, splice, thrice, twice, vice brick, chick, click, flick, kick, lick, nick, pick, quick, Rick, sick, slick bride, decide, glide, hide, pride, ride, side, slide, stride, tide, wide fife, knife, life, strife, wife bright, delight, fight, flight, fright, height, knight, light, might, night, plight, right bile, file, mile, Nile, pile, rile, smile, stile, tile, vile, while,

56 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 4 | Word Families Words

|

Families

ill

bill, chill, dill, drill, fill, frill, gill, grill, hill, ill, Jill, kill

in

bin, chin, din, fin, gin, grin, in, kin, pin, shin, skin, sin

ine ing ink

brine, decline, define, dine, fine, line, mine, nine, pine, shine, shrine, sine bring, cling, fling, king, ping, ring, sing, sling, spring, sting, string, swing blink, brink, drink, fink, ink, link, mink, pink, rink, shrink, sink, stink

ip

blip, chip, dip, drip, flip, grip, hip, lip, nip, quip, rip, ship

it

admit, bit, fit, flit, grit, hit, it, kit, knit, lit, mit, pit

oat

boat, coat, float, gloat, goat, oat, stoat, throat

ock og

block, clock, cock, crock, dock, flock, frock, hock, jock, knock, lock, mock blog, bog, catalog, clog, cog, dog, fog, frog, hog, jog, log, slog

oil

boil, broil, coil, foil, oil, soil, spoil, toil

oke

awoke, bloke, broke, choke, joke, poke, smoke, spoke, stoke, stroke, woke

oo

boo, coo, goo, igloo, moo, shoo, too, woo, zoo

ood

good, hood, stood, wood

ood

brood, food, mood

oof

goof, proof, roof, spoof

oof

hoof, woof

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

57 | P a g e

Section 4 | Word Families Words ook oom

|

Families

book, brook, cook, crook, hook, look, nook, rook, shook, took, bloom, boom, broom, doom, gloom, groom, loom, room, zoom

ool

cool, drool, fool, pool, spool, stool, tool

oon

balloon, goon, loon, moon, noon, soon, spoon, swoon

oop

coop, droop, hoop, loop, scoop, snoop, stoop, troop

op

bop, chop, cop, crop, drop, flop, hop, lop, mop, plop, pop

ore

bore, chore, core, fore, gore, lore, pore, score, shore, sore, spore, store, swore

orn

adorn, born, corn, forlorn, horn, morn, thorn, torn, worn

ot

apricot, blot, bot, clot, cot, dot, hot, jot, knot, lot, not, plot, pot

ought

bought, brought, fought, ought, sought, thought

ould

could, should, would

ouse

douse, grouse, house, louse, mouse, spouse

out ow own uck ug

about, bout, clout, gout, grout, out, scout, shout, snout, spout, stout, tout, trout bow, blow, crow, flow, glow, grow, row, show, slow, snow, sow, stow, throw brown, crown, down, drown, frown, gown buck, chuck, cluck, duck, luck, muck, stuck, struck, truck, tuck, yuck bug, dug, hug, jug, lug, mug, rug, shrug, smug, snug, thug, tug

58 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

Section 4 | Word Families Words

|

Families

ump

bump, clump, dump, grump, hump, jump, pump, rump, slump, stump, thump, trump

un

bun, fun, gun, nun, pun, run, stun, sun

unk

bunk, chunk, drunk, dunk, flunk, funk, lunk, plunk, punk, skunk, slunk, spunk, sunk

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers

59 | P a g e

Section 4 | Word Families Words

|

Families

References http://thesaurus.com/browse/synonymous http://www.enchantedlearning.com/wordlist/opp osites.shtml http://www.readingrockets.org/article/meetword-families http://www.uefap.com/vocab/select/awl.htm https://www.learnenglish.org.uk/wff/index.html https://archive.org/details/standardelectri00sloa http://www.chriselectricalservice.com/Electrical_Dictionary_.html http://eeame.com/portal/ http://www.abebooks.com/booksearch/title/hawkins-electrical-dictionary/

60 | P a g e

General Handbook for Electrical Engineers