atomic
adjective
Simple meaning
Of or about or including atoms.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhtahmikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈtɑmɪk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
physicschemistry
Of or relating to or comprising atoms
physicschemistry
Of or relating to atoms; composed of atoms; monatomic.
Employing or relating to nuclear energy or processes.
Unable to be split or made any smaller.
colloquialby extension
Very strong and overpowering.
Infinitesimally small.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or relating to or comprising atoms
Used this way, atomic is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use atomic
- “An atomic clock uses the vibration of atoms to keep incredibly accurate time.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Pertaining to the nucleus of an atom.
Resembling or characteristic of an atom.
Of, or relating to the fusion of atomic nuclei at high temperatures.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The energy released by a nuclear reaction.
A former executive agency (from 1946 to 1974) that was responsible for research into atomic energy and its peacetime uses in the United States.
The explosion of an atomic bomb.
The mass of an atom of a chemical element expressed in atomic mass units.
Unit of mass for expressing masses of atoms or molecules.
The order of an element in Mendeleyev's table of the elements.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Bomb with atomic weapons.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.