Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An optical sensing technology used to determine the position, velocity, or other characteristics of distant objects by analysis of pulsed laser light reflected from their surfaces.
  • noun The equipment used in such detection.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The optical analogue of radar which uses intense pulses of laser light to measure the composition and structure of the atmosphere.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a measuring system that detects and locates objects on the same principle as radar but uses light from a laser; a potential technology for detecting air turbulence that can affect aircraft

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[li(ght) + (ra)dar.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Blend of light and radar.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word lidar.

Examples

  • Laser technology called lidar provided much of the information.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • Toronto-based York University scientists, who were instrumental in making a meteorological device known as lidar, said their discovery was made over the last month when the lidar emitted laser light into the Martian atmosphere to measure its outline - dust, ground fog and clouds.

    India eNews 2008

  • Toronto-based York University scientists, who were instrumental in making a meteorological device known as lidar, said their discovery was made over the last month when the lidar emitted laser light into the Martian atmosphere to measure its outline - dust, ground fog and clouds.

    India eNews 2008

  • Toronto-based York University scientists, who were instrumental in making a meteorological device known as lidar, said their discovery was made over the last month when the lidar emitted laser light into the Martian atmosphere to measure its outline - dust, ground fog and clouds.

    India eNews 2008

  • The program should employ a technology known as light detection and ranging, or "lidar," to acquire elevation data.

    Mapping Flood Risk 2007

  • The program should employ a technology known as light detection and ranging, or "lidar," to acquire elevation data.

    Archive 2007-02-01 2007

  • The French company Leosphere developed their system Windcube using 'lidar' (light detection and ranging) remote-sensing technology to measure wind speed and direction, turbulence and wind shear with great precision.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2009

  • It uses similar 'lidar' (light detection and ranging) technology that ESA will use on its Aeolus Earth Explorer Atmospheric Dynamics Mission.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2009

  • The French company Leosphere developed their system Windcube using 'lidar' (light detection and ranging) remote-sensing technology to measure wind speed and direction, turbulence and wind shear with great precision.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2009

  • It uses similar 'lidar' (light detection and ranging) technology that ESA will use on its Aeolus Earth Explorer Atmospheric Dynamics Mission.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2009

  • Evans and his colleagues created this map and many others of the Angkor region using an imaging technology called lidar, short for “light detection and ranging.”

    Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age Annalee Newitz 2023

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "Speed trap" weapon.

    November 16, 2007

  • Acronym for "LIght Detection And Ranging." Whenever I see this word I can't help but think about Napoleon Dynamite's liger.

    January 18, 2008

  • most of the examples are in lowercase, but a search on google scholar for 'light detection and ranging' indicates that it is most often used in all capitals, less frequently as all lower case, and perhaps most accurately as 'LiDAR'. Does anyone know when an acronymn becomes sufficiently colloquial to be used in all lowercase, and if LiDAR has met this?

    August 19, 2010