Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena.
  • noun Such activities restricted to a class of natural phenomena.
  • noun A systematic method or body of knowledge in a given area.
  • noun Archaic Knowledge, especially that gained through experience.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Knowledge;comprehension or understanding of facts or principles.
  • noun Knowledge gained by systematic observation, experiment, and reasoning; knowledge coördinated, arranged, and systematized; also, the prosecution of truth as thus known, both in the abstract and as a historical development.
  • noun Knowledge regarding any special group of objects, coördinated, arranged, and systematized; what is known concerning a subject, systematically arranged; a branch of knowledge: as, the science of botany, of astronomy, of etymology, of metaphysics; mental science; physical science; in a narrow sense, one of the physical sciences, as distinguished from mathematics, metaphysics, etc.
  • noun Art derived from precepts or based on principles; skill resulting from training; special, exceptional, or preëminent skill.
  • noun Trade; occupation.
  • noun Synonyms and Art, Science. See art.
  • noun A so-called system of healing, which aims at a cnre of all physical ailments by educating the mind of the patient in certain directions. The mind is supposed to be trained to exclnde every idea of the existence of any real discomfort, on the ground that all such discomfort is the result of abnormal mental conditions; the mind being properly trained to ignore the body, no discomfort exists, since the mind does not admit it. The system has many variations, but in general is, evidently, a form of mind-cure or faith-cure.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb rare To cause to become versed in science; to make skilled; to instruct.
  • noun Knowledge; knowledge of principles and causes; ascertained truth of facts.
  • noun Accumulated and established knowledge, which has been systematized and formulated with reference to the discovery of general truths or the operation of general laws; knowledge classified and made available in work, life, or the search for truth; comprehensive, profound, or philosophical knowledge.
  • noun Especially, such knowledge when it relates to the physical world and its phenomena, the nature, constitution, and forces of matter, the qualities and functions of living tissues, etc.; -- called also natural science, and physical science.
  • noun Any branch or department of systematized knowledge considered as a distinct field of investigation or object of study.
  • noun Art, skill, or expertness, regarded as the result of knowledge of laws and principles.
  • noun See under Comparative, and Inductive.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable Knowledge derived from scientific disciplines, scientific method, or any systematic effort.
  • verb transitive To cause to become versed in science; to make skilled; to instruct.
  • noun Obsolete spelling of scion.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a particular branch of scientific knowledge
  • noun ability to produce solutions in some problem domain

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, knowledge, learning, from Old French, from Latin scientia, from sciēns, scient-, present participle of scīre, to know; see skei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman, Old French science, from Latin scientia ("knowledge"), from sciens, the present participle stem of scire ("know").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See scion.

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Sorry, but if you thought the movie was bad, you're wrong. Scientists have studied it. It's science, baby."

    July 18, 2007

  • "It works, bitches."

    November 17, 2007

  • verb - from The Martian movie.

    December 15, 2015

  • "do science" seemed to become popular in the 1950's
    google ngram: https://goo.gl/cLEih6

    Usually when I see 'do science', it's related to NASA 'doing science'.

    April 14, 2016