particle

American  

[pahr-ti-kuhl] / ˈpɑr tɪ kəl /

noun

1. a minute portion, piece, fragment, or amount; a tiny or very small bit.

   a particle of dust; not a particle of supporting evidence.

   Synonyms:

   speck, grain, tittle, jot, iota, whit, mite

2. Physics.

   1. one of the extremely small constituents of matter, as an atom or nucleus.

   2. an elementary particle, quark, or gluon.

   3. a body in which the internal motion is negligible.

3. a clause or article, as of a document.

4. Grammar.

   1. (in some languages) one of the major form classes, or parts of speech, consisting of words that are neither nouns nor verbs, or of all uninflected words, or the like.

   2. such a word.

   3. a small word of functional or relational use, as an article, preposition, or conjunction, whether of a separate form class or not.

5. Roman Catholic Church. a small piece of the Host given to each lay communicant in a Eucharistic service.

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particle British  

/ ˈpɑːtɪkəl /

noun

1. an extremely small piece of matter; speck

2. a very tiny amount; iota

   it doesn't make a particle of difference

3. a function word, esp (in certain languages) a word belonging to an uninflected class having suprasegmental or grammatical function

   the Greek particles ``mēn'' and ``de'' are used to express contrast

   questions in Japanese are indicated by the particle ``ka''

   English ``up'' is sometimes regarded as an adverbial particle

4. a common affix, such as re-, un-, or -ness

5. physics a body with finite mass that can be treated as having negligible size, and internal structure

6. See elementary particle

7. RC Church a small piece broken off from the Host at Mass

8. archaic a section or clause of a document

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particle Scientific  

/ pär′tĭ-kəl /

1. A very small piece of solid matter.

2. An elementary particle, subatomic particle, or atomic nucleus.

3. Also called corpuscle

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Other Word Forms

• interparticle adjective
• particled adjective

Etymology

Origin of particle

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Latin word particula. See part, -i-, -cle ¹

Example Sentences

Earth is protected by a strong global magnetic field that shields the planet from the Sun's high energy particles.

From Science Daily

This rapid vaporization triggers a phenomenon known as a "micro-explosion," which helps break up the fuel into finer particles.

From Science Daily

A new study outlines five biological mechanisms through which these particles may trigger inflammation and damage in the brain.

From Science Daily

For adults especially, that increases their risk of heart attacks and strokes because it causes plaque-forming particles to build up in their arteries over time, hardening and narrowing them.

From The Wall Street Journal

The team's second major discovery was the first observation of a long predicted single particle neutron state in tin-133.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• fleck
• fragment
• grain
• mite
• molecule
• ray
• speck