particle

par·ti·cle

noun \ˈpär-ti-kəl\

Definition of PARTICLE

1

a : a minute quantity or fragment b : a relatively small or the smallest discrete portion or amount of something

2

archaic : a clause or article of a composition or document

3

: any of the basic units of matter and energy (as a molecule, atom, proton, electron, or photon)

4

: a unit of speech expressing some general aspect of meaning or some connective or limiting relation and including the articles, most prepositions and conjunctions, and some interjections and adverbs <the particle up has a perfective meaning in phrases such as beat up and cut up>

5

: a small eucharistic wafer distributed to a Roman Catholic layman at Communion

Examples of PARTICLE

1. There is not a particle of evidence to support their claim.
2. There is not a particle of truth in what he said.
3. The phrasal verb “look up” consists of the verb “look” and the adverbial particle “up.”

Origin of PARTICLE

Middle English, from Latin particula, from diminutive of part-, pars

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to PARTICLE

Synonyms: ace, bit, crumb, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, hint, lick, little, mite, nip, ounce, peanuts, ray, scintilla, scruple, shade, shadow, shred, skosh, smack, smell, smidgen (also smidgeon or smidgin or smidge), snap, soupçon, spark, spatter, speck, splash, spot, sprinkling, strain, streak, suspicion, tad, touch, trace, drop in the bucket

Related Words: hoot, iota, jot, minim, minimum, modicum, semblance, syllable, tittle, vestige, whit; atom, dot, fleck, flyspeck, grain, granule, molecule, morsel, mote, nubbin, patch, scrap; dash, drop, pinch; part, portion, section; bite, nibble, taste; handful, scattering, smatter, smattering; dose, shot; chip, flake, fragment, shard, shiver, sliver, smithereens, splinter; shred, tatter; clipping, paring, shaving

Near Antonyms: abundance, barrel, boatload, bucket, bundle, bushel, deal, fistful, gobs, heaps, lashings (also lashins) [chiefly British], loads, lot, mass, mess, mountain, much, oodles, passel, peck, pile, plenty, potful, profusion, quantity, raft, reams, scads, stack, wad, wealth; volume; bonanza, embarrassment, excess, overabundance, overage, overflow, overkill, overmuch, oversupply, superabundance, superfluity, surfeit, surplus; chunk, hunk, lump, slab

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Rhymes with PARTICLE

article