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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
eureka
Definition of eureka
: marked by usually sudden triumphant discovery a eureka moment
Recent Examples of eureka from the Web
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That provides a parallel to Uncle Lester’s problem that leads to a eureka moment for both of them.
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There were very few eureka moments in Comey's testimony.
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He was partly inspired by visits to incubators around the world, but the eureka moment was a realization that there was a commercial property glut in much of China outside of Beijing and Shanghai that needed a solution.
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The eureka moment was when Nikola Jokic snatched a rebound with one hand, dribbled from under his own basket to past the halfcourt stripe and fed teammate Danilo Gallinari for a dunk during the Nuggets’ 103-93 victory against the Utah Jazz.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'eureka'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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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