law of motion

noun Physics.

any of three laws of classical mechanics, either the law that a body remains at rest or in motion with a constant velocity unless an external force acts on the body (first law of motion), the law that the sum of the forces acting on a body is equal to the product of the mass of the body and the acceleration produced by the forces, with motion in the direction of the resultant of the forces (second law of motion), or the law that for every force acting on a body, the body exerts a force having equal magnitude and the opposite direction along the same line of action as the original force (third law of motion or law of action and reaction).

Nearby words

law of inertia, law of inverse square, law of large numbers, law of mass action, law of moses, law of motion, law of multiple proportion, law of nations, law of nature, law of parsimony, law of recapitulation

Origin of law of motion

First recorded in 1660–70

Also called Newton's law of motion.