Skip to main content
theory of everything

theory of everything

5 9.9
A single idea that explains all forces and matter in the universe
  • noun
  • /ˈθiəri əv ˈɛvriˌθɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : teoría del todo
  • He wanted unification of all four forces into one theory, the theory of everything, the God Equation.

What is a theory of everything in general?

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Some people say that the theory of everything is not testable directly.

  • Scientists around the world are striving to create a theory of everything that encompasses all physical laws.

  • What is a theory of everything in general?

  • So I wonder if you can talk about, you know, the theory of everything includes our construction of religion and God, right?

  • I want to understand this, but I tend to work piece by piece rather than starting with a grand theory of everything.

    Blog text (21)
  • Do you have thoughts on this dream of a of a theory of everything in physics?

  • As in physics, economics struggles to find the grand theory of everything.

    Blog text (10)
  • It may never become the Theory of Everything that physicists have been looking for.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Admittedly, this search for a "theory of everything" in itself implicitly assumes the existence of some objective physical reality.

    Blog text (14)
  • I once moderated a panel discussion on "theories of everything"—those wishful attempts to explain, under one conceptual umbrella, all the forces of nature.

    Academic text (2002)

Surface Forms

Morphology

theory + of + everything

The phrase is directly compositional: 'theory' (a set of ideas) linked by 'of' to 'everything' (all things) yields the straightforward sense 'a theory that explains all things.' A B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer this basic meaning, even if they might not know the specialised physics implications. This construction is cross-linguistically common, reinforcing its transparency.

Etymology

Theory of everything paints a picture of one single theory that explains everything in the universe, like one key that opens every lock. That's why it means 'a single scientific idea that would explain all forces and kinds of matter'.