science

[sahy-uhns]

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noun

a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws: the mathematical sciences.

systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.

any of the branches of natural or physical science.

systematized knowledge in general.

knowledge, as of facts or principles; knowledge gained by systematic study.

a particular branch of knowledge.

skill, especially reflecting a precise application of facts or principles; proficiency.

Nearby words

Origin of science

1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Latin scientia knowledge, equivalent to scient- (stem of sciēns), present participle of scīre to know + -ia -ia

SYNONYMS FOR science

7. art, technique, method, discipline.

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Related forms

an·ti·sci·ence, adjective, nounin·ter·sci·ence, adjectivenon·sci·ence, nounpro·sci·ence, adjective

sub·sci·ence, noun

Can be confusedscience séance

science dictionary

noun, plural science dictionaries.

a specialized dictionary covering terms in the life, earth, and physical sciences, such as the online Science Dictionary on Dictionary.com. A science dictionary includes many technical terms with precise, specialized meanings—terms not normally found in general dictionaries—making it an invaluable resource for students and professionals in scientific fields.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for science

Citizens, perhaps, need to feel like they can communicate something to science.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
“We talked about the science the whole time the other day,” Krauss told The Daily Beast in a phone interview.
Sleazy Billionaire’s Double Life Featured Beach Parties With Stephen Hawking|M.L. Nestel|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Great resources were devoted to the science of air crash investigation.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Science imitates nature as researchers dream up robotic dogs, cheetahs, sharks and even cockroaches.
Meet Our Animal Robot Overlords|James Joiner|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Has she been doomed by the science of 2014 to a life of sexual misery?
Was 2014 the Year Science Discovered The Female Orgasm?|Samantha Allen|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Each of these was, then, bent on constructing a science out of a simple fact.
The Works of Honor de Balzac|Honor de Balzac
Any departure from Science is an irreparable loss of Science.
Rudimental Divine Science|Mary Baker Eddy
Like other young men, he was at first more attracted by glory and science than by the vanities of life.
The Alkahest|Honore de Balzac
Then in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as the cultivation of science became more general, royal academies were founded.
The Popular Science Monthly, October, 1900|Various
There is no science, but he hathe learned it thorowly, and so learned it, that you wolde thynke he had labored onely in it.
A Treatise of Schemes and Tropes|Richard Sherry

British Dictionary definitions for science

science

noun

the systematic study of the nature and behaviour of the material and physical universe, based on observation, experiment, and measurement, and the formulation of laws to describe these facts in general terms

the knowledge so obtained or the practice of obtaining it

any particular branch of this knowledgethe pure and applied sciences

any body of knowledge organized in a systematic manner

skill or technique

archaic knowledge

Word Origin for science

C14: via Old French from Latin scientia knowledge, from scīre to know

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

Word Origin and History for science

science

mid-14c., "what is known, knowledge (of something) acquired by study; information;" also "assurance of knowledge, certitude, certainty," from Old French science "knowledge, learning, application; corpus of human knowledge" (12c.), from Latin scientia "knowledge, a knowing; expertness," from sciens (genitive scientis) "intelligent, skilled," present participle of scire "to know," probably originally "to separate one thing from another, to distinguish," related to scindere "to cut, divide," from PIE root *skei- "to cut, to split" (cf. Greek skhizein "to split, rend, cleave," Gothic skaidan, Old English sceadan "to divide, separate;" see shed (v.)).

From late 14c. in English as "book-learning," also "a particular branch of knowledge or of learning;" also "skillfulness, cleverness; craftiness." From c.1400 as "experiential knowledge;" also "a skill, handicraft; a trade." From late 14c. as "collective human knowledge" (especially "that gained by systematic observation, experiment, and reasoning). Modern (restricted) sense of "body of regular or methodical observations or propositions concerning a particular subject or speculation" is attested from 1725; in 17c.-18c. this concept commonly was called philosophy. Sense of "non-arts studies" is attested from 1670s.

Science, since people must do it, is a socially embedded activity. It progresses by hunch, vision, and intuition. Much of its change through time does not record a closer approach to absolute truth, but the alteration of cultural contexts that influence it so strongly. Facts are not pure and unsullied bits of information; culture also influences what we see and how we see it. Theories, moreover, are not inexorable inductions from facts. The most creative theories are often imaginative visions imposed upon facts; the source of imagination is also strongly cultural. [Stephen Jay Gould, introduction to "The Mismeasure of Man," 1981]

In science you must not talk before you know. In art you must not talk before you do. In literature you must not talk before you think. [John Ruskin, "The Eagle's Nest," 1872]

The distinction is commonly understood as between theoretical truth (Greek episteme) and methods for effecting practical results (tekhne), but science sometimes is used for practical applications and art for applications of skill. To blind (someone) with science "confuse by the use of big words or complex explanations" is attested from 1937, originally noted as a phrase from Australia and New Zealand.

Medicine definitions for science

science

[sī′əns]

n.

The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena.

Such activities restricted to explaining a limited class of natural phenomena.

Such activities applied to an object of inquiry or study.

Knowledge, especially that gained through experience.

Science definitions for science

science

[sī′əns]

The investigation of natural phenomena through observation, theoretical explanation, and experimentation, or the knowledge produced by such investigation.♦ Science makes use of the scientific method, which includes the careful observation of natural phenomena, the formulation of a hypothesis, the conducting of one or more experiments to test the hypothesis, and the drawing of a conclusion that confirms or modifies the hypothesis. See Note at hypothesis.

science

noun

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Origin of science

science dictionary

noun, plural science dictionaries.

Examples from the Web for science

science

noun

Word Origin for science

science

science

n.

science