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high-energy physics

American  
[hahy-en-er-jee] / ˈhaɪˈɛn ər dʒi /

noun

  1. the branch of particle physics that deals with the collisions of particles accelerated to such high energies that new elementary particles are created by the collisions.


high-energy physics British  

noun

  1. another name for particle physics

"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

Etymology

Origin of high-energy physics

First recorded in 1960–65

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.

See Examples For:

He opted for high-energy physics and theoretical math instead.

From The Wall Street Journal May 15, 2026

"There has been transformative technological innovation across all sectors of society that's come out of high-energy physics," noted Messier.

From Science Daily Mar. 3, 2026

For example, high-energy physics receives an additional $304 million, and nuclear physics gets $217 million more.

From Science Magazine Aug. 9, 2022

Gary Marcus has argued for ‘‘a coordinated, multidisciplinary, multinational effort’’ modeled after the European high-energy physics lab CERN, which has successfully developed billion-dollar science projects like the Large Hadron Collider.

From New York Times Apr. 15, 2022

Leaders of Lawrences Berkeley and Livermore empire during the postwar bonanza, which enriched the university and secured the Rad Lab’s position as the preeminent center of high-energy physics in the nation, perhaps the world.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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