A Network Was Once Literally Made of Net
A network is a connected system. The word began as a description of netting and moved through railways and radio to reach computers.
A network is a set of connected things: roads, people, computers. The first meaning was physical — work made of net, a mesh of threads with holes between them. Railways borrowed the image, then broadcasters for their linked stations, then computing, and finally job hunters, who network.
- A connected system. *The rail network.*
- A group of people who help each other. *A professional network.*
- Linked broadcasters. *A television network.*
- To build professional contacts. *He networks constantly.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | network | A local network. |
| Plural | networks | Mobile networks. |
| Verb | network | Network with peers. |
| Noun | networking | A networking event. |
| Adjective | networked | A networked printer. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The network went down for an hour.Computing.
- She has a good network in the industry.People.
- The show moved to another network.Broadcasting.
Kinds of network
- LAN — a local area network, one building or site
- WAN — a wide area network, spanning locations
- Mesh — every node connects to several others
- Social network — people and their relationships, online or not
- Node and edge — the two elements of any network diagram
A compound of *net* and *work*, recorded from the sixteenth century for netting. Every later sense is a metaphor built on that mesh of connections.
Is *network* acceptable as a verb?
Yes, and it has been standard in business English since the 1970s, though some readers still find it grating.
Network or the internet?
The internet is a network of networks. A network can be as small as two connected machines.