high-tech

Word family

• technology
  nounA2
• technological
  adjectiveB1
• technologically
  adverbB2
• tech
  nounB1
• low-tech
  adjectiveB2
• hi-tech
  adjectiveB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All three words describe something that is modern and uses new ideas, but they differ in strength and context. Advanced is the broadest and most neutral — it simply means complex or highly developed, and works in almost any context ('an advanced medical procedure'). Cutting-edge is more vivid and slightly informal; it suggests something at the very front of innovation, often still being tested ('cutting-edge research on cancer vaccines'). State-of-the-art is the most formal and suggests the best available at this moment, typically used with equipment and facilities ('a state-of-the-art hospital wing'). For everyday products, high-tech overlaps most with state-of-the-art, but tends to sound less formal — you might call a watch high-tech but you would call an MRI machine state-of-the-art.

Common collocations

Etymology

High-tech is a shortening of high technology, formed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The word high had been used since the 1200s to mean 'of great quality or degree', and technology comes from Greek tekhnē (art, skill) + -logia (study of). The shortened form high-tech first appeared in newspapers and magazines covering the electronics and computer industries. By the 1970s it had spread to design and everyday language.