| Noun | 1. | elementary particle - (physics) a particle that is less complex than an atom; regarded as constituents of all matter natural philosophy, physics - the science of matter and energy and their interactions; "his favorite subject was physics" antilepton - the antiparticle of a lepton antiparticle - a particle that has the same mass as another particle but has opposite values for its other properties; interaction of a particle and its antiparticle results in annihilation and the production of radiant energy antiquark - the antiparticle of a quark hadron - any elementary particle that interacts strongly with other particles lepton - an elementary particle that participates in weak interactions; has a baryon number of 0 subatomic particle, particle - a body having finite mass and internal structure but negligible dimensions quark - (physics) hypothetical truly fundamental particle in mesons and baryons; there are supposed to be six flavors of quarks (and their antiquarks), which come in pairs; each has an electric charge of +2/3 or -1/3; "quarks have not been observed directly but theoretical predictions based on their existence have been confirmed experimentally" strange particle - an elementary particle with non-zero strangeness cosmic string, string - (cosmology) a hypothetical one-dimensional subatomic particle having a concentration of energy and the dynamic properties of a flexible loop weakly interacting massive particle, WIMP - a hypothetical subatomic particle of large mass that interacts weakly with ordinary matter through gravitation; postulated as a constituent of the dark matter of the universe atom - (physics and chemistry) the smallest component of an element having the chemical properties of the element |