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particle
(redirected from Elementary particles)

   Also found in: Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.03 sec.
par·ti·cle  (pärt-kl)
n.
1. A very small piece or part; a tiny portion or speck.
2. A very small or the smallest possible amount, trace, or degree: not a particle of doubt.
3. Physics
a. A body whose spatial extent and internal motion and structure, if any, are irrelevant in a specific problem.
b. An elementary particle.
c. A subatomic particle. See Table at subatomic particle.
4. Linguistics
a. An uninflected item that has grammatical function but does not clearly belong to one of the major parts of speech, such as up in He looked up the word or to in English infinitives.
b. In some systems of grammatical analysis, any of various short function words, including articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.
5. Roman Catholic Church
a. A small piece of a consecrated host.
b. One of the smaller, individual hosts.
6. Archaic A small division or section of something written, such as a clause of a document.

[Middle English, from Latin particula, diminutive of pars, part-, part; see part.]

particle [ˈpɑːtɪkəl]
n
1. an extremely small piece of matter; speck
2. a very tiny amount; iota it doesn't make a particle of difference
3. (Linguistics / Grammar) 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. (Linguistics) a common affix, such as re-, un-, or -ness
5. (Physics / General Physics) Physics a body with finite mass that can be treated as having negligible size, and internal structure
6. (Physics / General Physics) See elementary particle
7. (Christianity / Roman Catholic Church) RC Church a small piece broken off from the Host at Mass
8. (Communication Arts / Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) Archaic a section or clause of a document
[from Latin particula a small part, from pars part]

particle  (pärt-kl)
1. A very small piece of solid matter.
2. An elementary particle, subatomic particle, or atomic nucleus. Also called corpuscle.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.particleparticle - (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything
grain - a relatively small granular particle of a substance; "a grain of sand"; "a grain of sugar"
grinding - material resulting from the process of grinding; "vegetable grindings clogged the drain"
material, stuff - the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object; "coal is a hard black material"; "wheat is the stuff they use to make bread"
chylomicron - a microscopic particle of triglycerides produced in the intestines during digestion; in the bloodstream they release their fatty acids into the blood
flyspeck - a tiny dark speck made by the excrement of a fly
identification particle - a tiny particle of material that can be added to a product to indicate the source of manufacture
2.particle - a body having finite mass and internal structure but negligible dimensions
virion - (virology) a complete viral particle; nucleic acid and capsid (and a lipid envelope in some viruses)
alpha particle - a positively charged particle that is the nucleus of the helium atom; emitted from natural or radioactive isotopes
beta particle - a high-speed electron or positron emitted in the decay of a radioactive isotope
body - an individual 3-dimensional object that has mass and that is distinguishable from other objects; "heavenly body"
boson - any particle that obeys Bose-Einstein statistics but not the Pauli exclusion principle; all nuclei with an even mass number are bosons
deuteron - the nucleus of deuterium; consists of one proton and one neutron; used as a bombarding particle in accelerators
elementary particle, fundamental particle - (physics) a particle that is less complex than an atom; regarded as constituents of all matter
fermion - any particle that obeys Fermi-Dirac statistics and is subject to the Pauli exclusion principle
ion - a particle that is electrically charged (positive or negative); an atom or molecule or group that has lost or gained one or more electrons
magnetic monopole - a hypothetical particle with a single magnetic pole instead of the usual two
micelle - an electrically charged particle built up from polymeric molecules or ions and occurring in certain colloidal electrolytic solutions like soaps and detergents
prion - (microbiology) an infectious protein particle similar to a virus but lacking nucleic acid; thought to be the agent responsible for scrapie and other degenerative diseases of the nervous system
virino - (microbiology) a hypothetical infectious particle thought to be the cause of scrapie and other degenerative diseases of the central nervous system; consists of nucleic acid in a protective coat of host cell proteins
scintilla - a sparkling glittering particle
superstring - a hypothetical particle that is the elementary particle in a theory of space-time
thermion - an electrically charged particle (electron or ion) emitted by a substance at a high temperature
3.particle - a function word that can be used in English to form phrasal verbs
closed-class word, function word - a word that is uninflected and serves a grammatical function but has little identifiable meaning

particle
noun bit, piece, scrap, grain, molecule, atom, shred, crumb, mite, jot, speck, mote, whit, tittle, iota Particles of food can get stuck between the teeth.
Translations
particle [ˈpɑːtɪkl]
A. N
1. (gen) → partícula f; [of dust] → partícula f, grano m (fig) → pizca f
there's not a particle of truth in iteso no tiene ni pizca de verdad
2. (Phys, Gram) → partícula f
B. CPD particle accelerator Nacelerador m de partículas
particle board N (US) → madera f aglomerada
particle physics Nfísica f de partículas

particle [ˈpɑːrtɪkəl] n
(PHYSICS)particule f
(= small amount) → particule f
dust particles, particles of dust → des particules de poussières
food particles, particles of food → des particules de nourriture
a particle of truth → une parcelle de vérité
(LINGUISTICS)particule f
particle accelerator naccélérateur m de particules
particle physics nphysique f des particules

particle
n
(of sand etc)Teilchen nt, → Körnchen nt; (Phys) → Teilchen nt; (fig)Körnchen nt; particle of dust, dust particleStäubchen nt, → Staubkörnchen nt, → Staubpartikel nt (spec); food particlesNahrungspartikel pl; there’s not a particle of truth in itdarin steckt kein Körnchen Wahrheit
(Gram) → Partikel f

particle:
particle accelerator
particle board
n (US) → Spanplatte f

particle [ˈpɑːtɪkl] n (Gram, Phys) → particella; (of dust) → granello; (of food) → pezzettino (fig) (of truth, sense) → briciolo
particle [ˈpɑːtɪkl] n (Gram, Phys) → particella; (of dust) → granello; (of food) → pezzettino (fig) (of truth, sense) → briciolo

particle
n particle [ˈpaːtikl]
a very small piece a particle of dust. deeltjie جُسَيْم частица částečka, smítko partikel; -partikel das Teilchen μόριο partícula osake, kübe ذره hiukkanen particule חֶלקִיק कण čestica,trunak (elemi) részecske partikel ögn particella 粒子 미립자 dalelytė, krislas daļiņa; kripatiņa habuk deeltje partikkel, –korn odrobina partícula particulă частица čiastočka, smietka; častica drobec čestica partikel อนุภาค parçacık, zerre 微粒 частка ذرہ hạt


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? Mentioned in ? References in periodicals archive
 
Although the string universe includes the pointlike, elementary particles of conventional physics, such as quarks and electrons, those are just vibrations of the more-fundamental strings.
Gell-Mann received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1969 for "his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions.
The work draws its title from the British edition of Michel Houellebecq's novel The Elementary Particles (1998), which caps its scabrous antihumanism by contemplating the abandonment of sexual reproduction in favor of cloning and the distribution of genital pleasure receptors all over the body.
 
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