FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does fundamental particle mean? 

• FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLE (noun)
  The noun FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLE has 1 sense:

1. (physics) a particle that is less complex than an atom; regarded as constituents of all matter

  Familiarity information: FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(physics) a particle that is less complex than an atom; regarded as constituents of all matter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

elementary particle; fundamental particle

Hypernyms ("fundamental 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 "fundamental 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 ("fundamental particle" is a part of...):

atom ((physics and chemistry) the smallest component of an element having the chemical properties of the element)

 Context examples 

A fundamental particle with a negative charge.

(Electron, NCI Thesaurus)