PHYSICAL CHANGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does physical change mean? 

• PHYSICAL CHANGE (noun)
  The noun PHYSICAL CHANGE has 1 sense:

1. a change from one state (solid or liquid or gas) to another without a change in chemical composition

  Familiarity information: PHYSICAL CHANGE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PHYSICAL CHANGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A change from one state (solid or liquid or gas) to another without a change in chemical composition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

phase change; phase transition; physical change; state change

Hypernyms ("physical change" is a kind of...):

action; activity; natural action; natural process (a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "physical change"):

freeze; freezing (the withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid)

liquefaction (the conversion of a solid or a gas into a liquid)

melt; melting; thaw; thawing (the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid)

evaporation; vapor; vaporisation; vaporization; vapour (the process of becoming a vapor)