wave front

wave front

n.

The continuous line or surface including all the points in space reached by a wave or vibration at the same instant as it travels through a medium.

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wave front

The set of points in space reached by a wave or vibration at the same instant as the wave travels through a medium. Wave fronts generally form a continuous line or surface. The lines formed by crests of ripples on a pond, for example, correspond to curved wave fronts.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	wave front - all the points just reached by a wave as it propagates propagation - the movement of a wave through a medium wave - a persistent and widespread unusual weather condition (especially of unusual temperatures); "a heat wave"
	2.	wave front - (physics) an imaginary surface joining all points in space that are reached at the same instant by a wave propagating through a medium wavefront natural philosophy, physics - the science of matter and energy and their interactions; "his favorite subject was physics" surface - the extended two-dimensional outer boundary of a three-dimensional object; "they skimmed over the surface of the water"; "a brush small enough to clean every dental surface"; "the sun has no distinct surface"