atom

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As the atom was the first etheric blunder, so the material

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun A part or particle considered to be an irreducible constituent of a specified system.
  2. noun The irreducible, indestructible material unit postulated by ancient atomism.
  3. noun An extremely small part, quantity, or amount.
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Examples (50)

  • The English chemist John Dalton resurrected Democritus's word atom, declaring it to be the basic unit of each chemical element. —  Omni: January 1994
  • "To transmit the nucleus of the atom, which results in transmission of the entire atom, since the protons, electrons and neutrons of the atom are almost inseparable from the nucleus, I use a high-impact beam of electronic transmission The beam simply scoops up the electrons nucleus and carries it along until it is intercepted by the receiver, which then causes the electronic beams to drop the nucleus, which then reassemble It's all very clear!" —  046 - The Vanisher
  • The artificial atom has been a real boon to quantum physicists studying the behavior of electrons, because it gives them a new window into the atom which was not previously available. —  Analog Science Fiction and Fact, January 2002
  • He accepted it as a kind of sub-atom, a fourth state of matter, as described by Sir William Crookes, who discovered it. —  Prodigal genius - Tesla Biography
  • We have therefore to deal, not with an atom which is generating heat waves on every side, but with a globe about 860,000 miles in diameter, and with a circumference of over 2,700,000 miles. —  Aether and Gravitation
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English attome, from Latin atomus, from Greek atomos, indivisible, atom : a-, not; see a-1 + tomos, cutting (from temnein, to cut; see tem- in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also atome, attom (and as L. atomus, atomos, with plural atomi, sometimes atomie, later English singular atomie, atomy, q. v.), from Middle English attome, atome, from French atome = Spanish átomo = Portuguese Italian atomo = G. Danish Swedish atom, from Latin atomus, from Greek ἄτομος, an atom, properly adjective, indivisible, that cannot be cut, from ἀ- privative + τομός, verbal adjective of τέμνειν, ταμεῖν, cut: see tome.
  2. from atom, n.
 

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/ˈætəm/
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