elementary particle

noun

: any of the particles of which matter and energy are composed or which mediate the fundamental forces of nature

especially : one whose existence has not been attributed to the combination of other more fundamental entities

Examples of elementary particle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Or maybe, just maybe, the anomaly points to a monumental discovery, the existence of a new type of elementary particle called a sterile neutrino. —Quanta Magazine, 12 July 2024

University of Edinburgh Peter Higgs, the shy, somewhat reclusive physicist who won a Nobel Prize for his theoretical work on how the Higgs boson gives elementary particles their mass, has died at the age of 94. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 9 Apr. 2024

Voids could even help to nail down the nature of neutrinos—elementary particles, once thought to be massless, that pervade the universe while barely interacting with ordinary matter. —Michael D. Lemonick, Scientific American, 1 Jan. 2024

Well, physics tells us that even elementary particles have that, in the simplest possible form: quantum indeterminacy (the idea that the physical facts of the universe seem to be indeterminate on the subatomic level). —Sigal Samuel, Vox, 4 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1934, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

elementary particle

noun

: any of the particles (as electrons or photons) of matter and energy that are smaller than atoms and do not appear to be made up of a combination of more basic things

Medical Definition

elementary particle

noun

1

: any of the particles of which matter and energy are composed or which mediate the fundamental forces of nature

especially : one (as the photon or the electron) whose existence has not been attributed to the combination of other more fundamental entities

2

: one of the structural units of mitochondrial cristae that are observable by the electron microscope usually as spheres or stalked spheres and are probably the seat of fundamental energy-producing reactions