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.
So far, however, researchers have demonstrated this principle only with ordinary matter or first-generation antimatter.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Looking ahead, experiments involving positronium interference could also make it possible to test how antimatter responds to gravity.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 28, 2026
Yet the observable universe is overwhelmingly made of matter, with very little antimatter remaining from the Big Bang.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 3, 2026
When matter and antimatter meet, they annihilate each other in a burst of energy.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 3, 2026
I know these two plots will come together like matter and antimatter, annihilating me in the explosion, but I see no way out.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
