1. Physics a. The entire range over which some measurable property of a physical system or phenomenon can vary, such as the frequency of sound, the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation, or the mass of specific kinds of particles.
b. A specific portion of such a range: the infrared spectrum.
c. A characteristic distribution of phenomena manifested over such a range: the emission spectrum for sodium vapor.
d. A graphic representation of such a distribution; a spectrogram.
e. A band of colors produced when the wavelengths making up white light are separated, as when light passes through a prism or strikes drops of water.
3. a. A range of values of a quantity or set of related quantities: the income spectrum.
b. A sequence or range of related qualities, ideas, activities, entities, or phenomena: the whole spectrum of 20th-century thought; the spectrum of genes involved in the immune response.