filter

1. 1.

   device that removes something from whatever passes through it

   Broaderdevice

   Narrowerair filterbacteria bedcoffee filterdrain basketfilter bedfuel filterlight filteroil filterstrainerwater filter
2. 2.

   an electrical device that alters the frequency spectrum of signals passing through it

   Broaderelectrical device

   Narrowerhigh-pass filterlow-pass filter

Other forms of filter

plural

filters·

past tense

filterred·

present participle

filterring·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about filter

What does filter mean?

filter means "remove by passing through a filter". That is the primary sense; the word has 5 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in filter?

filter has 2 syllables: fil-ter. The stress falls on "fil". In IPA it is /ˈfɪltɚ/.

What is another word for filter?

Close synonyms include filtrate, strain, separate out, filter out, percolate. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is filter a common word?

filter is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.