fundamental particle

American  

noun

1. elementary particle.

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fundamental particle British  

noun

1. another name for elementary particle

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fundamental particle Scientific  

1. See elementary particle

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Etymology

Origin of fundamental particle

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Crucially, measurements of this decay let us study how one type of fundamental particle, a beauty quark, can transform into another, the strange quark.

From Science Daily • May 26, 2026

Physicists know that for every fundamental particle in nature there is an antiparticle — an evil twin of identical mass but endowed with equal and opposite characteristics like charge and spin.

From New York Times • Sep. 27, 2023

If neutrinoless double beta decay is ever observed it would indicate that the neutrino is its own antiparticle, unlike any other fundamental particle that has mass.

From Science Magazine • Aug. 22, 2023

So Pauli proposed what he described as a “desperate remedy”: a new type of small, chargeless fundamental particle that was emitted alongside the electrons and accounted for the missing energy.

From Scientific American • Jun. 15, 2022

The grand explanation physicists use to describe how the universe works may have some major new flaws to patch after a fundamental particle was found to have more mass than scientists thought.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 7, 2022