antimatter

[ an-tee-mat-er, an-tahy- ]

/ ˈæn tiˌmæt ər, ˈæn taɪ- /

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noun Physics.

matter composed only of antiparticles, especially antiprotons, antineutrons, and positrons.

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Origin of antimatter

First recorded in 1950–55; anti- + matter

Words nearby antimatter

antimask, anti-masker, Anti-Mason, Anti-Masonic party, antimasque, antimatter, antimension, antimere, antimeridian, antimetabolite, antimicrobial

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use antimatter in a sentence

A team of physicists is now claiming the first direct observation of the long-sought Breit-Wheeler process, in which two particles of light, or photons, crash into one another and produce an electron and its antimatter counterpart, a positron.
Colliding photons were spotted making matter. But are the photons ‘real’?|Emily Conover|August 9, 2021|Science News
From this spinning stellar husk, a “wind” of electrons and their antimatter partners blows outwards at a respectable percentage of the speed of light.
The Crab Nebula’s electron launcher is so powerful, it almost shouldn’t exist|Monroe Hammond|July 9, 2021|Popular-Science
To get closer to the answer, we have studied a process where matter transforms into antimatter and vice versa.
CERN: How We’re Probing the Universe’s Origins Using Record Precision Measurements|Martha Hilton|June 24, 2021|Singularity Hub
For instance, electrons have antimatter twins called positrons.
Stars made of antimatter could lurk in our galaxy|Maria Temming|May 31, 2021|Science News For Students

Then they compared that with the reconstructed digital images of the transparencies, creating a new, antimatter picture they called a “compensation image.”
How These Rothkos Were Restored Without Touching the Canvas|Adam Rogers|May 30, 2021|The Daily Beast
Instead, dark matter is its own antimatter, so any pair of particles that meet will destroy each other.
Still No Dark Matter from Space Station Experiment|Matthew R. Francis|September 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The distribution was unequal of course; antimatter could not exist in contact with ordinary matter.
Psichopath|Gordon Randall Garrett
On the average, one atom out of every ten million in the universe was an atom of antimatter.
Psichopath|Gordon Randall Garrett

British Dictionary definitions for antimatter

antimatter

/ (ˈæntɪˌmætə) /

noun

a form of matter composed of antiparticles, such as antihydrogen, consisting of antiprotons and positrons

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for antimatter

antimatter

[ ăn′tĭ-măt′ər ]

A form of matter that consists of antiparticles.

Cultural definitions for antimatter

antimatter

In physics, matter made of antiparticles.