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elementary particle
noun
: any of the particles of which matter and energy are composed or which mediate the fundamental forces of nature
especially
: one whose existence has not been attributed to the combination of other more fundamental entities
Examples of elementary particle in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In the late 1960s and early ’70s, such collisions broke apart protons and neutrons to reveal the elementary particles that make them up.
—Lyndie Chiou, Quanta Magazine, 7 May 2024
Panpsychism may remain a controversial theory in science that contends that consciousness extends to everything in the universe down to the smallest elementary particle, but Pollini’s playing has something to say about it.
—Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2024
Lily Asquith, a physicist searching for the Higgs boson--the elementary particle believed to give everything in the universe mass--is using more than her eyes.
—Joseph Calamia, Discover Magazine, 20 May 2010
Voids could even help to nail down the nature of —elementary particles, once thought to be massless, that pervade the universe while barely interacting with ordinary matter.
—Michael D. Lemonick, Scientific American, 1 Jan. 2024
The standard model of elementary particles, including anti-particles.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 24 Mar. 2023
Strings also appear in the way the strong force acts among quarks, which are the elementary particles that make up a proton.
—Kevin Hartnett, Quanta Magazine, 18 Apr. 2023
Alternatively, dark matter may consist of some possible elementary particles known as QCD axions that are extremely lightweight.
—Kat Friedrich, Popular Mechanics, 10 Mar. 2023
Instead, it was first used to explain how protons and neutrons are made of elementary particles called quarks and gluons.
—WIRED, 10 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'elementary particle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1934, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of elementary particle was
in 1934
Dictionary Entries Near elementary particle
Cite this Entry
“Elementary particle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elementary%20particle. Accessed 13 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
elementary particle
noun
: any of the particles (as electrons or photons) of matter and energy that are smaller than atoms and do not appear to be made up of a combination of more basic things
Medical Definition
elementary particle
noun1
: any of the particles of which matter and energy are composed or which mediate the fundamental forces of nature
especially
: one (as the photon or the electron) whose existence has not been attributed to the combination of other more fundamental entities
2
: one of the structural units of mitochondrial cristae that are observable by the electron microscope usually as spheres or stalked spheres and are probably the seat of fundamental energy-producing reactions
More from Merriam-Webster on elementary particle
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about elementary particle
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