Cherenkov

American

[chuh-reng-kawf, -kof, -ren-, chyi-ryin-kawf] / tʃəˈrɛŋ kɔf, -kɒf, -ˈrɛn-, tʃyɪ ryɪnˈkɔf /

Or Cerenkov

noun

Pavel A. 1904–1990, Russian physicist: Nobel Prize 1958.

Cherenkov British

/ tʃɪˈrjenkəf, tʃɪˈrɛŋkɒf /

noun

Pavel Alekseyevich (ˈpavɪl alɪkˈsjejɪvitʃ). 1904–90, Soviet physicist: noted for work on the effects produced by high-energy particles: shared Nobel prize for physics 1958

"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

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.

Answers may come with the construction of a huge new gamma ray telescope called the Cherenkov Telescope Array.

From Science Daily • Oct. 18, 2025

Unlike LHAASO, CTA will use imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, and it will be highly complementary to that observatory.

From Scientific American • Jul. 8, 2021

When the particles hit the water, they will spark faint flashes of blue Cherenkov light spotted by detectors at the bottom of the pools.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 25, 2019

Different types of charged hadrons are distinguished by information from two ring-imaging Cherenkov detectors.

From Nature • May 12, 2015

Cherenkov radiation in the Maria reactor named after Marie Curie, in Poland, June 2010 Photo by A. Rumińska/Wikimedia Commons But here's the really crazy part.

From Slate • Jan. 30, 2013

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023