Meanings
plural thermionic valves
- historicalAn electronic device incorporating electrons from a glowing cathode inside an evacuated glass tube, functioning as a switch, amplifier etc.
The age of electronics began in 1906 with Lee De Forest's invention of the vacuum tube, or, as the British (led by John Ambrose Fleming, whose work preceded De Forest's) described it, the thermionic valve.
2012, George Dyson, Turing's Cathedral, Penguin, published 2013, page 65Synonyms: vacuum tube
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn electronic device incorporating electrons from a glowing cathode inside an evacuated glass tube, functioning as a switch, amplifier etc.
More synonyms by meaning
nounelectronic device consisting of a system of electrodes arranged in an evacuated glass or metal envelope
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
thermionic valve. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thermionic%20valve
“thermionic valve.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thermionic%20valve. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thermionic valve,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thermionic%20valve.
Source: thermionic valve on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.