Scientists have recently found that the expansion of the universe is actually speeding up. This effect is attributed to the presence of dark energy.
First recorded in 1950–55
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The big bang theory may have triumphed among most cosmologists, but the persistence of unanswered questions—what came before that explosive moment? could our universe be one of many?—leaves plenty of room for speculation and dissent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
When we first pitched the show to Casey Bloys and the creative team at HBO, we said it would be “glacially slow, with no big bang theory of dramatics.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2025
He says the big bang theory is a “paradigm-smashing concept to end all paradigm-smashing concepts” because it demonstrates that the universe had a beginning.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 13, 2021
There are strong scientists, too, those who are seeking to misread and therefore to transcend quantum mechanics or the big bang theory or Darwinian evolution.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 20, 2019
But Gran didn’t tolerate ideas like evolution or the big bang theory, despite the evidence.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
Only in the 20th century did readers recognize its uncanny anticipations of relativity and the big-bang theory.
From Slate ● Aug. 2, 2021
The prevailing idea about how the universe was created is called the big-bang theory.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017
Hubble’s observation forms the basis of the big-bang theory.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017
At issue here is not the big-bang theory itself, which is supported by multiple lines of observational evidence.
From Washington Post
The big-bang theory was born Yet scientists were aware that the big-bang theory suffered from a significant shortcoming.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
According to the Big Bang theory, the universe should have started with equal amounts of matter and antimatter.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 7, 2025
Raychaudhary recollects that even after Hoyle began to entertain elements of the Big Bang theory, Narlikar remained committed to the steady-state theory.
From BBC ● May 23, 2025
Later astronomer Edward Hubble made discoveries here that led to the Big Bang theory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2024
His claim cast doubt on the Big Bang theory of the universe.
From New York Times ● Aug. 18, 2023
From nothing at all, suddenly there were swarms of photons, protons, electrons, neutrons, and much else–between 1079 and 1089 of each, according to the standard Big Bang theory.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
