mathematics
Americannoun
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mathematics
plural
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(used with a singular verb) the systematic treatment of magnitude, relationships between figures and forms, and relations between quantities expressed symbolically.
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(used with a singular or plural verb) mathematical procedures, operations, or properties.
noun
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(functioning as singular) a group of related sciences, including algebra, geometry, and calculus, concerned with the study of number, quantity, shape, and space and their interrelationships by using a specialized notation
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(functioning as singular or plural) mathematical operations and processes involved in the solution of a problem or study of some scientific field
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mathematics
1350–1400; Middle English mathematic < Latin mathēmatica ( ars ) < Greek mathēmatikḕ ( téchnē ) scientific (craft), equivalent to mathēmat- (stem of máthēma ) science, knowledge + -ikē, feminine of -ikos -ic; see -ics
Explanation
Mathematics is the long word for "math," or the science of numbers and shapes and what they mean. Most people need mathematics everyday to count and measure. Mathematics is technically a plural noun — mathematics include geometry, algebra, and calculus. But in the U.S., the word is usually treated as a singular concept: That's why someone says that mathematics is their favorite subject, not mathematics are their favorite subjects. The word mathematics comes from the Greek word manthanein, meaning "to learn."
Vocabulary lists containing mathematics
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.
Kevin Buzzard, a flamboyant British number theorist, believes that Lean will cleanse mathematics of its excessive sloppiness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
The Turing machine, it followed, could produce all possible mathematics and do it far better than an error-prone human.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
A native of Ireland, Madigan earned a mathematics degree and a doctorate in statistics from Trinity College Dublin and worked in insurance and technology consulting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
"We're hoping to really unify as many geologic dating methods as we can by using the same mathematics, the same Bayesian approach, and just bringing more data, more raw observations into that mix," he said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
In the midst of this, Joylette had graduated from Hampton with a degree in mathematics in 1962—just a few months after John Glenn took flight.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
