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The oldest and simplest form of turbine is the waterwheel, which is made to rotate by water falling across its blades and into buckets suspended from them. Hero of Alexandria invented the first steam-driven turbine in the 1st century A.D., but a commercially practical steam turbine wasn't developed until 1884; steam turbines are now the main elements of electric power stations. Jet engines are gas turbines. A turbojet engine uses a turbine to compress the incoming air that feeds the engine before being ejected to push the plane forward; a turboprop engine uses its exhaust to drive a turbine that spins a propeller. A wind turbine generates electricity by being turned by the wind; the largest now have vanes with a turning diameter of over 400 feet.
Examples of turbine in a Sentence
Daniel Moore, Axios, 29 Oct. 2024
But before any turbines are built, the projects will need a daunting array of permits from the federal government examining not only their environmental impact, but their effects on commercial fishing, navigation and national security.
—Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2024
The original Shine turbine, launched in 2021, was funded in just one hour on Kickstarter and sold out its first production run in five days.
—Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 10 Oct. 2024
The river had been diverted to run the giant turbines to provide electricity to Siskiyou County and parts of southern Oregon for the first time in the early 20th century.
—Debra Utacia Krol, USA TODAY, 5 Nov. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near turbine
Cite this Entry
“Turbine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/turbine. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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turbine
noun
from French turbine "turbine," from Latin turbin-, turbo "top (for spinning), whirlwind"
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