ordinary wave: Meaning and Definition of

or'dinary wave"

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. (of the two waves into which a radio wave is divided in the ionosphere under the influence of the earth's magnetic field) the wave with characteristics more nearly resembling those that the undivided wave would have exhibited in the absence of the magnetic field. Cf.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.