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particle

noun

Simple meaning

A very small piece of matter.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pahrtuhkuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpɑɹtəkəl

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something.

  2. physics

    Any of various physical objects making up the constituent parts of an atom; an elementary particle or subatomic particle.

  3. A little bit.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something.

Used this way, particle is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Mild
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • atom , a specialist term, precise but narrower
  • molecule , a specialist term, precise but narrower

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use particle

  • “Even a tiny particle of dust can irritate your eye.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Small

particle physics

Various

particle sizeelementary particle

Body

charged particle

Other combinations

alpha particleparticle velocitysingle particleparticle diameter

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • particle acceleratornounCompound term

    A scientific instrument that increases the kinetic energy of charged particles.

  • particle beamnounCompound term

    A collimated flow of particles (atoms or electrons or molecules).

  • particle boardnounCompound term

    Wallboard composed of wood chips or shavings bonded together with resin and compressed into rigid sheets.

  • particle detectornounCompound term

    A chamber in which particles can be made visible.

  • particle physicsnounCompound term

    The branch of physics that studies subatomic particles and their interactions.

  • elementary particlenounCompound term

    A particle that is less complex than an atom.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: very small piece of matter or a fragment

atomTechnicalmoleculeTechnical

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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.