spectral line
noun
: one of a series of linear images formed by a spectrograph or similar instrument and corresponding to a narrow portion of the spectrum of the radiation emitted or absorbed by a particular source
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web His team also recognized that a red spectral line which supposedly arose from oxygen is actually a blend of oxygen and nickel; subtracting nickel’s contribution led to a lower oxygen abundance. 
Ken Croswell, Scientific American, 1 July 2020 At the same time, the spectral lines became objects of mathematical interest. Quanta Magazine, 20 Mar. 2018 The ‘hydrogen line’ is the electromagnetic radiation spectral line that is created by a change in the energy state of neutral hydrogen atoms. James Hill, Washington Post, 20 June 2019 The enormous clouds emit large amounts of ultraviolet light with a spectral line produced by hydrogen ions, known as a Lyman-alpha line. Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, 21 Sep. 2016 The investigators were hoping to analyze the spectral lines—essentially the chemical fingerprints—of the gasses in Uranus’s atmosphere. Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 24 Apr. 2018 He and his colleagues looked for Doppler shifts in the spectral lines of the stars' light that would be caused if a planet tugged them back and forth. Daniel Clery, Science | AAAS, 11 Apr. 2018 Such light encodes deep insights in the form of spectral lines, which betray the compositions, temperatures and motions of cosmic denizens. Ray Jayawardhana, WSJ, 16 Oct. 2017 See More
Ken Croswell, Scientific American, 1 July 2020 At the same time, the spectral lines became objects of mathematical interest. Quanta Magazine, 20 Mar. 2018 The ‘hydrogen line’ is the electromagnetic radiation spectral line that is created by a change in the energy state of neutral hydrogen atoms. James Hill, Washington Post, 20 June 2019 The enormous clouds emit large amounts of ultraviolet light with a spectral line produced by hydrogen ions, known as a Lyman-alpha line. Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, 21 Sep. 2016 The investigators were hoping to analyze the spectral lines—essentially the chemical fingerprints—of the gasses in Uranus’s atmosphere. Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 24 Apr. 2018 He and his colleagues looked for Doppler shifts in the spectral lines of the stars' light that would be caused if a planet tugged them back and forth. Daniel Clery, Science | AAAS, 11 Apr. 2018 Such light encodes deep insights in the form of spectral lines, which betray the compositions, temperatures and motions of cosmic denizens. Ray Jayawardhana, WSJ, 16 Oct. 2017 See More Word History
First Known Use
1849, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
spectral line
noun
: one of a series of linear images of the narrow slit of a spectrograph or similar instrument corresponding to a component of the spectrum of the radiation emitted by a particular source