Adjacent Words

Particle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

P`ARTICLE, n. [L. particula, from pars, part.]
1. A minute part or portion of matter; as a particle of sand, of lime or of light.
2. In physics, a minute part of a body, an aggregation or collection of which constitutes the whole body or mass. The word is sometimes used in the same sense as atom, in the ancient Epicurean philosophy, and corpuscle in the latter. In this sense, particles are the elements or constituent parts of bodies.
3. Any very small portion or part; as, he has not a particle of patriotism or virtue; he would not resign a particle of his property.
4. In the Latin church, a crumb or little piece of consecrated bread.
5. In grammar, a word that is not varied or inflected; as a preposition.
Organic particles, very minute moving bodies,perceptible only by the help of the microscope, discovered in the semen of animals.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything [syn: atom, molecule, particle, corpuscle, mote, speck]
2: a body having finite mass and internal structure but negligible dimensions [syn: particle, subatomic particle]
3: a function word that can be used in English to form phrasal verbs

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Latin particula, from diminutive of part-, pars Date: 14th century 1. a. a minute quantity or fragment b. a relatively small or the smallest discrete portion or amount of something 2. archaic a clause or article of a composition or document 3. any of the basic units of matter and energy (as a molecule, atom, proton, electron, or photon) 4. a unit of speech expressing some general aspect of meaning or some connective or limiting relation and including the articles, most prepositions and conjunctions, and some interjections and adverbs <the particle up has a perfective meaning in phrases such as beat up and cut up> 5. a small eucharistic wafer distributed to a Roman Catholic layman at Communion

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a minute portion of matter. 2 the least possible amount (not a particle of sense). 3 Gram. a a minor part of speech, esp. a short undeclinable one. b a common prefix or suffix such as in-, -ness. Etymology: ME f. L particula (as PART)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Particle Par"ti*cle, n. [L. particula, dim of pars, gen partis, a part: cf. F. particule. See Part, and cf. Parcel.] 1. A minute part or portion of matter; a morsel; a little bit; an atom; a jot; as, a particle of sand, of wood, of dust. The small size of atoms which unite To make the smallest particle of light. --Blackmore. 2. Any very small portion or part; the smallest portion; as, he has not a particle of patriotism or virtue. The houses had not given their commissioners authority in the least particle to recede. --Clarendon. 3. (R. C. Ch.) (a) A crumb or little piece of concecrated host. (b) The smaller hosts distributed in the communion of the laity. --Bp. Fitzpatrick. 4. (Gram.) A subordinate word that is never inflected (a preposition, conjunction, interjection); or a word that can not be used except in compositions; as, ward in backward, ly in lovely.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(particles) 1. A particle of something is a very small piece or amount of it. There is a particle of truth in his statement. ...food particles. N-COUNT: oft N of n 2. In physics, a particle is a piece of matter smaller than an atom, for example an electron or a proton. (TECHNICAL) N-COUNT 3. In grammar, a particle is a preposition such as 'into' or an adverb such as 'out' which can combine with a verb to form a phrasal verb. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Bit, atom, molecule, corpuscle, mote, jot, iota, tittle, whit, grain, scrap, mite, scintilla, ace, speck.

Moby Thesaurus

K-meson, ace, adjectival, adjective, adverb, adverbial, adversative conjunction, atom, attributive, beta particle, bit, butt, chip, chunk, clip, clipping, collop, conjunction, conjunctive adverb, coordinating conjunction, copulative, copulative conjunction, correlative conjunction, crumb, cut, cutting, dab, damn, disjunctive, disjunctive conjunction, dole, dollop, dot, dram, dribble, driblet, drop, droplet, dwarf, electron, end, exclamatory noun, farthing, fleck, flyspeck, form class, form word, fragment, function class, gerundive, gleam, gnat, gob, gobbet, grain, granule, graviton, groat, hair, handful, hint, hoot, hunk, interjection, iota, jot, little, little bit, lota, lump, meson, mesotron, microbe, microorganism, midge, minim, minimum, minutia, minutiae, mite, modicum, moiety, molecule, morsel, mote, neutron, nutshell, ounce, paring, part of speech, participle, past participle, pebble, perfect participle, photon, piece, pinch, pinhead, pinpoint, pion, pittance, point, preposition, present participle, proton, quark, rasher, ray, scintilla, scoop, scrap, scruple, shard, shaving, shiver, shred, slice, sliver, smidgen, smidgin, smitch, smithereen, snack, snap, snatch, snip, snippet, spark, speck, splinter, spoonful, spot, stitch, stump, subordinating conjunction, suggestion, suspicion, syllable, tatter, thimbleful, tiny bit, tittle, trifling amount, trivia, vanishing point, verbal adjective, whit, whoop