physics
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Alternative forms
Etymology
1580s; from physic (see also -ics), from Middle English phisik, from Old French fisike (“natural science, art of healing”), from Latin physica (“study of nature”), from Ancient Greek φυσική (phusikḗ), feminine singular of φυσικός (phusikós, “natural; physical”), from Ancient Greek φύσις (phúsis, “origin; nature, property”), from Ancient Greek φύω (phúō, “produce; bear; grow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to appear, become, rise up”).
Pronunciation
Noun
physics (uncountable)
- The branch of science concerned with the study of the properties and interactions of space, time, matter and energy.
- Newtonian physics was extended by Einstein to explain the effects of travelling near the speed of light; quantum physics extends it to account for the behaviour of atoms.
- 2012 March, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 146:
- The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.
- The physical aspects of a phenomenon or a system, especially those examined or studied scientifically.
- The physics of car crashes would not let Tom Cruise walk away like that.
Antonyms
Hyponyms
- aerophysics
- astrophysics
- attophysics
- biophysics
- cartoon physics
- chemical physics
- classical physics
- econophysics
- ecophysics
- gastrophysics
- geophysics
- heliophysics
- hyperphysics
- macrophysics
- metaphysics
- microphysics
- modern physics
- neurophysics
- nuclear physics
- optics
- particle physics
- petrophysics
- photophysics
- physical chemistry
- plasmaphysics
- psychophysics
- quantum physics
- radiation physics
- radiobiophysics
- radiophysics
- soil physics
- spacetime physics
- tectonophysics
- theoretical physics
- thermodynamics
Meronyms
- See also Thesaurus:physics
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- → Welsh: ffiseg
Translations
branch of science
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Noun
physics
Verb
physics
- third-person singular simple present indicative of physic
Further reading
- “physics”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “physics”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “physics”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
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