antimatter
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of antimatter
Explanation
Antimatter is composed of antiparticles, which have the opposite charge of regular particles. Antimatter is also called negative matter. Matter makes up all the things that exist: everything in the world is matter. Words beginning with anti are opposed to their root. Therefore, antimatter is the opposite of matter. If antimatter and matter were to collide, both would be destroyed, releasing a huge and dangerous amount of energy. This happens because the particles that make up matter and the antiparticles that make up antimatter have opposite electric charges. The existence of antimatter is something studied by physicists.
Vocabulary lists containing antimatter
Power Prefix: Anti
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Zilch, Zip, Nada: Words For Nothing
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Quantum of Vocabulary: the Parlance of Particle Physics
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"The fact that we end up with more baryons than antibaryons -- or more matter than antimatter -- is not surprising since our collisions start with matter," he said.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
The same process also explains how antideuterons, made of antimatter, are produced.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 27, 2025
I think of this book as the antimatter to JD Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
If everything had balanced perfectly, all matter and antimatter should have destroyed each other, leaving behind only radiation.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 7, 2025
My chest was about to explode, hurling matter and antimatter out until they annihilated everything nearby.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
