graviton

noun

grav·​i·​ton ˈgra-və-ˌtän 

: a hypothetical particle with zero charge and rest mass that is held to be the quantum of the gravitational field

Examples of graviton in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By successfully scaling this technology to the gram level while maintaining extreme sensitivity, the team is creating a foundational blueprint for future, larger detectors capable of definitive graviton observation. —Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 16 Jan. 2026

Last year, Donoghue and collaborators discovered an important mathematical fact about how gravitons collide in quadratic gravity. —Quanta Magazine, 17 Nov. 2025

In a quantum description of gravity, the gravitational force must therefore also have its own quanta, and these have been called gravitons. —Keith Cooper, Space.com, 11 Nov. 2025

From the space-time perspective, these curves capture events beyond the purview of trace phi cubed theory: colorless particles that the researchers believe could eventually describe gravitons. —Charlie Wood, WIRED, 3 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

gravit(y) + -on entry 2, after Russian gravitón

Note: The term was introduced by the Russian physicists Dmitrij Ivanovič Bloxincev (1908-79) and Fëdor Matveevič Gal'perin (1903-85) in "Gipoteza nejtrino i zakon soxranenija ènergii," Pod znamenem marksizma, vol. 6 (1934), pp. 147-57.

First Known Use

1942, in the meaning defined above