particle physics

noun

: a branch of physics dealing with the constitution, properties, and interactions of elementary particles especially as revealed in experiments using particle accelerators

called also high-energy physics

particle physicist noun

Examples of particle physics in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the premier US national lab for high-energy particle physics announced the start of the underground detector assembly for the massive neutrino project in South Dakota on May 7. —Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 8 May 2026

While electricity plays a central role, lightning bolts are formed and shaped by the whole physics canon — from cosmic blasts to particle physics. —Quanta Magazine, 6 May 2026

This has spurred the search for particles beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 27 Apr. 2026

But after the Higgs discovery, the particle physics headlines went quiet again, with searches for other hypothesized particles yielding the sigh-inducing null result. —Mariangela Lisanti, Twin Cities, 27 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1946, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for particle physics

• tectonophysics
• astrophysics
• geophysics
• metaphysics