atomic mass unit
noun
Simple meaning
Unit of mass for expressing masses of atoms or molecules.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhtahmihkmasyoonuhtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈtɑmɪkˈmæsˈjunət
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.
noun
physical chemistry
Unit of mass for expressing masses of atoms or molecules
physical chemistry
A unit of mass equal to 1/12 the mass of an atom of ¹²C (carbon-12, an isotope of carbon).
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Unit of mass for expressing masses of atoms or molecules
Used this way, atomic mass unit is a rare 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
- Rare
- 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.
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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.