atom

Meaning

  1. The smallest possible amount of matter which still retains its identity as a chemical element, now known to consist of a nucleus surrounded by electrons.
  2. A hypothetical particle posited by Greek philosophers as an ultimate and indivisible component of matter.
  3. The smallest, indivisible constituent part or unit of something.
  4. In logical atomism, a fundamental fact that cannot be further broken down.
  5. The smallest medieval unit of time, equal to fifteen ninety-fourths of a second.
  6. A mote of dust in a sunbeam.
  7. A very small amount; a whit.
  8. An individual number or symbol, as opposed to a list; a scalar value.
  9. A non-zero member of a partially ordered set that has only zero below it (assuming that the poset has a least element, its "zero").
  10. An element of a set that is not itself a set; an urelement.
  11. An age group division in hockey for nine- to eleven-year-olds.

Frequency

C1
Hyphenated as
at‧om
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈætəm/
Etymology

From Middle English attome, from Middle French athome, from Latin atomus (“smallest particle”), from Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos, “indivisible”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + τέμνω (témnō, “I cut”). Atoms are so named because historically the notion was that they were indivisible, given that chemically they are indeed so; the splitting of atoms awaited a later era of science and technology, and nonchemical means.

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