The difference between Rainbow and Spectrum
When used as nouns, rainbow means a multicoloured arch in the sky, produced by prismatic refraction of light within droplets of rain in the air, whereas spectrum means a range.
Rainbow is also verb with the meaning: to pattern with many colours, like a rainbow.
Rainbow is also adjective with the meaning: multicolored.
check bellow for the other definitions of Rainbow and Spectrum
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Rainbow as a noun:
A multicoloured arch in the sky, produced by prismatic refraction of light within droplets of rain in the air.
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Rainbow as a noun:
Any prismatic refraction of light showing a spectrum of colours.
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Rainbow as a noun (often used with “of”):
A wide assortment; a varied multitude.
Examples:
"a rainbow of possibilities"
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Rainbow as a noun (figurative):
An illusion, mirage.
Examples:
"Many electoral promises are rainbows, vanishing soon after poll day."
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Rainbow as a noun (baseball):
A curveball, particularly a slow one.
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Rainbow as a noun (poker slang):
In Texas hold 'em or Omaha hold 'em, a flop that contains three different suits.
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Rainbow as a noun:
Rainbow trout.
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Rainbow as an adjective:
Multicolored.
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Rainbow as an adjective (attributive, chiefly, US):
Made up of several races or ethnicities, or (more broadly) of several cultural or ideological factions.
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Rainbow as an adjective (attributive):
LGBT.
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Rainbow as an adjective (poker, chiefly, of a flop):
Composed entirely of different suits.
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Rainbow as a verb (transitive):
To pattern with many colours, like a rainbow.
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Spectrum as a noun:
A range; a continuous, infinite, one-dimensional set, possibly bounded by extremes.
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Spectrum as a noun:
Specifically, a range of colours representing light (electromagnetic radiation) of contiguous frequencies; hence electromagnetic spectrum, visible spectrum, ultraviolet spectrum, etc.
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Spectrum as a noun (psychology, education):
The autism spectrum.
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Spectrum as a noun (chemistry):
The pattern of absorption or emission of radiation produced by a substance when subjected to energy (radiation, heat, electricity, etc.).
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Spectrum as a noun (mathematics, linear algebra):
The set of eigenvalues of a matrix.
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Spectrum as a noun (mathematics, functional analysis):
Of a bounded linear operator A, the set of scalar values λ such that the operator A—λI, where I denotes the identity operator, does not have a bounded inverse; intended as a generalisation of the linear algebra sense.
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Spectrum as a noun (abstract algebra, algebraic geometry):
The set, denoted Spec(R), of all prime ideals of a given ring R, commonly augmented with a Zariski topology and considered as a topological space.
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Spectrum as a noun (obsolete):
Specter, apparition.
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Spectrum as a noun:
The image of something seen that persists after the eyes are closed.