physicist
[ fiz-uh-sist ]
/ ˈfɪz ə sɪst /
noun
a scientist who specializes in physics.
RELATED CONTENT
What Is The Difference Between “Might” And “May”?May expresses likelihood while might expresses a stronger sense of doubt or a contrary-to-fact hypothetical. The difference in degree between “You may be right” and “You might be right” is slight but not insignificant: if I say you may be right about something, there is a higher degree of probability that you are right about it than if I say you might be right about something. Example: You think Einstein is the most brilliant physicist who …
Word Trends: Ninnyhammer, Cyclone, ScionSome words, such as affect, metaphor, and irony, hold relatively steady in lookups at Dictionary.com regardless of what’s happening in pop culture, politics, or social media. Other words shift wildly in rank and volume, often as a ripple effect of a news item or event that has piqued people’s curiosity—we call those trending words. Here are few of our favorite trending words from the week of March 12–18. …
RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
- physician,
- physician assistant,
- physician's assistant,
- physician, heal thyself,
- physicianship,
- physico-,
- physicochemical,
- physicological,
- physics,
- physics model
Origin of physicist
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for physicist
physicist
/ (ˈfɪzɪsɪst) /
noun
a person versed in or studying physics
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
physicist
1836, from physics + -ist. Coined by the Rev. William Whewell (1794-1866), English polymath, to denote a "cultivator of physics" as opposed to a physician.
As we cannot use physician for a cultivator of physics, I have called him a physicist. We need very much a name to describe a cultivator of science in general. I should incline to call him a Scientist. Thus we might say, that as an Artist is a Musician, Painter, or Poet, a Scientist is a Mathematician, Physicist, or Naturalist. [William Whewell, "The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences," London, 1840]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper