Definition of nanotechnology
: the science of manipulating materials on an atomic or molecular scale especially to build microscopic devices (such as robots)
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Recent Examples of nanotechnology from the Web
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Drexler agrees that the potential use of nanotechnology for the creation of powerful weapons systems should be considered.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'nanotechnology'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Nanotechnology, or nanotech for short, deals with matter at a level that most of us find hard to imagine, since it involves objects with dimensions of 100 billionths of a meter (1/800th of the thickness of a human hair) or less. The chemical and physical properties of materials often change greatly at this scale. Nanotechnology is already being used in automobile tires, land-mine detectors, and computer disk drives. Nanomedicine is a particularly exciting field: Imagine particles the size of a blood cell that could be released into the bloodstream to form into tiny robots and attack cancer cells, or "machines" the size of a molecule that could actually repair the damaged interiors of individual cells.
1974
First Known Use of nanotechnology
1974
NANOTECHNOLOGY Defined for English Language Learners
nanotechnology
playDefinition of nanotechnology for English Language Learners
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: the science of working with atoms and molecules to build devices (such as robots) that are extremely small
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