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ELEMENTARY PARTICLE
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(physics) a particle that is less complex than an atom; regarded as constituents of all matter
Synonyms:
elementary particle; fundamental particle
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("elementary particle" is a kind of...):
particle; subatomic particle (a body having finite mass and internal structure but negligible dimensions)
Domain category:
natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "elementary particle"):
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)
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)
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)
Holonyms ("elementary particle" is a part of...):
atom ((physics and chemistry) the smallest component of an element having the chemical properties of the element)
