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particle

particle

5 6.2
A small word like up or out that changes a verb's meaning
  • noun
  • /ˈpɑrtɪkəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : partícula
  • In phrasal verbs like 'give up' or 'put off', the words 'up' and 'off' act as particles that change the meaning of the verbs.
  • preposition and particle
  • omitted the particle

Examples

  • But any man with a particle of sense can see he is exactly like a rope.

    Academic text (2013)
  • In the sentence 'He picked up the book and put it back on the shelf', the word 'back' is an example of an adverbial particle that modifies the verb.

  • The idea was to have users freely explore the topics of particle physics.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Back is an adverbial particle, so that gets more stressed.

  • The children produced few substitution errors on either particles or prepositions.

    Academic text (2012)
  • Colleagues gather to discuss high-energy nuclear and particle physics at a 1955 conference in Rochester, New York.

    Academic text (2005)
  • When studying English phrasal verbs, it is important to understand how particles like 'out' and 'in' affect the verbs they accompany.

Compounds

subatomic particle
  • Specialized
12 5.1

A very small part of matter smaller than an atom, like a proton or electron

particle accelerator
  • Specialized
11 5.5

A machine that makes tiny charged particles move faster for science or medicine

particle physics
  • Specialized
8 4.5

The science that studies very small parts of matter and how they interact

particle beam
  • Specialized
7 6.8

A narrow, focused stream of tiny particles like electrons used in science and medicine

elementary particle
  • Specialized
3 6.5

A very small part of matter that you cannot break into smaller pieces, like an electron or quark

alpha particle
  • Specialized
2 5.8

A small positively charged part of an atom with two protons and two neutrons released in radioactive decay

A board made from small wood pieces glued and pressed for furniture and building

beta particle
  • Specialized
1 6.4

A fast, tiny particle like an electron that a radioactive atom gives off

fundamental particle
  • Specialized
1 6.8

A very small part of matter not made of smaller parts like an electron or quark

particle detector
  • Specialized
1 5.8

A machine that finds and shows very small particles inside atoms in physics experiments

wave-particle duality
  • Specialized
1 9.6

A physics idea that light and matter act like waves and particles when you look at them

lambda particle
  • Specialized
9.9

A neutral particle made of three quarks that appears in particle physics

heavy particle
  • Specialized
8.4

A tiny piece of matter as heavy as or heavier than a proton that feels the strong force

9.9

A very small particle added to a product to show where it came from

J particle
  • Specialized
9.9

A heavy neutral particle made of a charm quark and its antiparticle

K particle
  • Specialized
9.9

A tiny particle smaller than an atom that breaks into other particles after high-energy collisions

psi particle
  • Specialized
9.9

A heavy neutral meson made of a quark and an antiquark seen in physics experiments

tau-minus particle
  • Specialized
9.9

A heavy, short-lived tiny part of matter like an electron but much heavier

tau-plus particle
  • Specialized
9.9

A tiny particle with a positive charge like an electron but much heavier

5.1

Very small bits of dirty matter in the air that come from smoke and engines and can harm people's health

strange particle
  • Specialized
9.9

A very small particle that forms in fast collisions and decays more slowly

A heavy particle that hardly interacts with normal matter and may make up dark matter in space

How Lexical

content word
  • Specialized
4.4
auxiliary verb
  • Specialized
1 2.9
particle
  • Specialized
5 6.2
function word
  • Specialized
1.0

Surface Forms

particle singular
particles plural

Morphology

particle = part (opaque) = part + icle

The grammatical sense 'a small function word' is a specialized linguistic meaning and cannot be straightforwardly derived by learners from 'part' + '-icle'.

Etymology

Particle comes from the Latin particula, meaning 'small part', and it shares the same root as the word part. In grammar a particle is a very small 'part' of a sentence (like 'up' in 'give up') that helps change the verb's meaning.