backpropagation

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noun

An error correction technique used in neural networks.

UncommonScrabble 28

Meanings

nounbackpropagation (countable and uncountable, plural backpropagations)

plural backpropagations

  1. countableuncountablemachine learningcomputerAn error correction technique used in neural networks.

    In machine learning, backpropagation of error (‘backprop’) is the algorithm most often used to train deep neural networks and is the most successful learning procedure for these networks.

    2020, Timothy P. Lillicrap, Adam Santoro, Luke Marris, Colin J. Akerman, Geoffrey Hinton, “Backpropagation and the brain”, in Nature
  2. countableuncountablemedicineA phenomenon in which the action potential of a neuron creates a voltage spike both at the end of the axon, as normally, and also back through to the dendrites from which much of the original input current originated.
    1 more example

    Experiments show that these ion channels furnish the dendrites with a rich repertoire of electrical behaviors, from essentially passive responses, to subthreshold active responses, to active backpropagation of the action potential (AP) from the soma into the dendrites, to the initiation of APs in the dendritic tree.

    2000 October 27, Idan Segev, Michael London, “Untangling Dendrites with Quantitative Models”, in Science, volume 290, number 5492, →DOI, pages 744–750

Origin

Translations

Finnish vastavirta-algoritmi
  • vastavirta-algoritmiin computing
French rétropropagation
  • rétropropagationin computing
Swedish bakåtpropagering, bakåtspridning
  • bakåtpropageringin computing
  • bakåtspridningin computing
Cite this entry
APA

backpropagation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backpropagation

MLA

“backpropagation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backpropagation. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “backpropagation,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backpropagation.

Source: backpropagation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.