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COLLISION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A conflict of opposed ideas or attitudes or goals
Example:
a collision of interests
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("collision" is a kind of...):
conflict; difference; difference of opinion; dispute (a disagreement or argument about something important)
Derivation:
collide (be incompatible; be or come into conflict)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An accident resulting from violent impact of a moving object
Example:
the collision of the two ships resulted in a serious oil spill
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("collision" is a kind of...):
accident (an unfortunate mishap; especially one causing damage or injury)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "collision"):
fender-bender (a collision between motor vehicles that produces minor damage)
pileup (multiple collisions of vehicles)
smash; smash-up (a serious collision (especially of motor vehicles))
Derivation:
collide (crash together with violent impact)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(physics) a brief event in which two or more bodies come together
Example:
the collision of the particles resulted in an exchange of energy and a change of direction
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural events
Hypernyms ("collision" is a kind of...):
contact; impinging; striking (the physical coming together of two or more things)
Domain category:
natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)
Derivation:
collide (crash together with violent impact)
collide (cause to collide)
Context examples:
Astronomers have spotted three giant black holes within a titanic collision of three galaxies.
(Three Black Holes on Collision Course, NASA)
A collision with the table partially knocked the wind from my body and brought me to myself.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
To go from the door to the head of the bed was a zigzag course that he was never quite able to accomplish in the dark without collisions.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Indeed, we pressed the matter so far that we almost came into collision, for she asked us if we were or were not prepared to carry out her wishes.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
But it is not necessary, said Miss Murdstone, that these opinions should come into collision here.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
The disaster has long been thought down to a collision with an iceberg.
(UK documentary claims fire weakened RMS Titanic, Wikinews)
The whirl culminated in a collision with a chair, and the man and woman crashed to the floor in a wild struggling fall that extended itself across half the length of the room.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
The debris field of very fine dust was likely created from collisions among developing infant planets near the star, evidenced by a bright ring of dusty debris seen 7 billion miles from the star.
(Hubble Finds Huge System of Dusty Material Enveloping the Young Star HR 4796A, NASA)
Researchers in Australia believe the technology would be able to change the path of orbital junk to prevent collisions with satellites.
(Australia Developing Lasers to Track, Destroy Space Junk, VOA)
The whole central traffic of London was held up, and many collisions were reported between the demonstrators upon the one side and the police and taxi-cabmen upon the other.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
