particle

American  

[pahr-ti-kuhl] / ˈpɑr tɪ kəl /

noun

• particles
  plural

1. a minute portion, piece, fragment, or amount; a tiny or very small bit.

   a particle of dust; not a particle of supporting evidence.

   Synonyms:

   speck, grain, tittle, jot, iota, whit, mite

2. Physics.

   1. one of the extremely small constituents of matter, as an atom or nucleus.

   2. an elementary particle, quark, or gluon.

   3. a body in which the internal motion is negligible.

3. a clause or article, as of a document.

4. Grammar.

   1. (in some languages) one of the major form classes, or parts of speech, consisting of words that are neither nouns nor verbs, or of all uninflected words, or the like.

   2. such a word.

   3. a small word of functional or relational use, as an article, preposition, or conjunction, whether of a separate form class or not.

5. Roman Catholic Church. a small piece of the Host given to each lay communicant in a Eucharistic service.

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particle British  

/ ˈpɑːtɪkəl /

noun

1. an extremely small piece of matter; speck

2. a very tiny amount; iota

   it doesn't make a particle of difference

3. a function word, esp (in certain languages) a word belonging to an uninflected class having suprasegmental or grammatical function

   the Greek particles ``mēn'' and ``de'' are used to express contrast

   questions in Japanese are indicated by the particle ``ka''

   English ``up'' is sometimes regarded as an adverbial particle

4. a common affix, such as re-, un-, or -ness

5. physics a body with finite mass that can be treated as having negligible size, and internal structure

6. See elementary particle

7. RC Church a small piece broken off from the Host at Mass

8. archaic a section or clause of a document

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particle Scientific  

/ pär′tĭ-kəl /

1. A very small piece of solid matter.

2. An elementary particle, subatomic particle, or atomic nucleus.

3. Also called corpuscle

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• interparticle
  adjective
• particled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• particles
  plural

Etymology

Origin of particle

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Latin word particula. See part, -i-, -cle ¹

Explanation

A particle is a small piece of anything. Particle can also refer to a subatomic particle with mass and structure, but takes up hardly any space at all. Particles are tiny. If you mean a subatomic particle, that's a body that you can't see because it is so incredibly small, though it does have a miniscule mass and internal structure. These particles are even smaller than atoms. You can also say a crumb or speck of something is a particle. Dust particles are piling up all the time, and vacuuming cleans up lots of particles. Those particles are little bits of things. In both cases, particles are very tiny.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

particle particles

More than 200 parameters go into creating the “perfect Pringle,” from the flour’s particle size and the dough’s humidity to the geography where the potatoes were harvested, according to Laenen.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

New sensors and live machine data were integrated to create live digital versions of the dough, capturing minute variances in raw materials—like the particle size of the flour.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

The announcement was part of broader cuts to astronomy, nuclear and particle physics research over the next four years which will also impact on other projects.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

Both are associated with cardiovascular disease, but particle concentration can reveal risk that a standard cholesterol test may not show.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026

This is the reason for string theory, which was created in the 1970s when physicists began to see the advantages of treating every particle as a vibrating string rather than as a dot.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

These extremely energetic collisions convert tremendous amounts of energy into thousands of newly created particles.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026

"Salt particles -- specifically sodium chloride and potassium chloride -- are most often used" as cloud-seeding agents, said Adnan Yarmohammed, one of the Emirati officials in charge of sharing his country's experience.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

By making these hidden dynamics easier to study, the approach could help scientists develop a deeper understanding of strongly correlated matter and the complex behavior that emerges when many particles interact.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026

The process involves spraying particles such as silver iodide and salt from aircraft to produce rainfall, but depends on clouds being present.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

As Percy watched, the last particles of Titan essence from Hyperion and Krios were vacuumed into the warrior’s maw.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• fleck
• fragment
• grain
• mite
• molecule
• ray
• speck