particle

[pahr-ti-kuhl]

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.

particle

/ 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

particle

1. A very small piece of solid matter.

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

3. Also called corpuscle

Other Word Forms

• particled adjective
• interparticle adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of particle¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of particle¹

C14: from Latin particula a small part, from pars _part

Example Sentences

Its ability to absorb light is extremely strong, giving it a very high chance of capturing incoming light particles.

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Cosmic rays -- high-energy particles moving close to the speed of light -- are known to arrive from within the Milky Way and from more distant regions of the universe.

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Tiny particles in ship exhaust, especially sulfate aerosols, play a major role in how clouds form and how bright they become.

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"But we never came this far. We found out that the laser we are using is itself charging our aerosol particles."

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But she’s in a coma and Hawkins is now split wide open, with particles from the Upside Down pouring in.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

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