physical change
Americannoun
Usage
What is a physical change? A physical change is a change to the physical—as opposed to chemical—properties of a substance. They are usually reversible. The physical properties of a substance include such characteristics as shape (volume and size), color, texture, flexibility, density, and mass. Physical changes are not to be confused with chemical changes, which form whole new substances.
Etymology
Origin of physical change
First recorded in 1750–60
Compare meaning
How does physical-change compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
Decades of science since those days of placebo panic suggest that beliefs can manifest physical change; after all, the mind and body are connected.
From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2026
Discomfort with one’s body was increasingly reframed by clinicians and activists as a psychological flaw, and the desire for physical change treated with suspicion, as if it betrayed a lack of self-acceptance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
"There is a physical change that I feel, it does something to your body, for certain," she says.
From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2025
“And you see that physical change in posture and that sigh of relief of, ‘You’re right, this is really scary for me too, and I’m allowed to have those really hard feelings,’” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2023
If telepathy take place we have two physical facts—the physical change in the brain of A, the suggester, and the analogous physical change in the brain of B, the recipient of the suggestion.
From Mysterious Psychic Forces An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants by Camille Flammarion
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.
