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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

"As a rule, experiments in high-energy physics have different designs even if they have the same science goal. Joint analyses allow us to use complementary features of these designs."

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2025

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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