Definition of eureka
—used to express triumph on a discovery
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When people exclaim Eureka! they are reenacting a legendary event in the life of the Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes. While wrestling with the problem of how to determine the purity of gold, he made the sudden realization that the buoyancy of an object placed in water is equal in magnitude to the weight of the water the object displaces. According to one popular version of the legend, he made his discovery at a public bathhouse, whereupon he leapt out of his bath, exclaimed “Heureka! Heureka!” (“I have found it!”), and ran home naked through the streets. The absence of a contemporary source for this anecdote has done nothing to diminish its popularity over the centuries.
Origin and Etymology of eureka
Greek heurēka I have found, from heuriskein to find; from the exclamation attributed to Archimedes on discovering a method for determining the purity of gold — more at heuristic
First Known Use: 1603
eureka
Definition of eureka
: marked by usually sudden triumphant discovery a eureka moment
1948
First Known Use of eureka
1948
eureka
playDefinition of eureka
: I have found (it) —motto of California
Eureka
playDefinition of Eureka
city and port on Humboldt Bay in northwestern California population 27,191
EUREKA Defined for English Language Learners
eureka
playDefinition of eureka for English Language Learners
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—used to express excitement when a discovery has been made
Learn More about eureka
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See words that rhyme with eureka Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about eureka
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