science

noun

sci·​ence ˈsī-ən(t)s 

1

a

: knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method

b

: such knowledge or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena : natural science

2

a

: a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study

the science of theology

b

: something (such as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge

have it down to a science

3

: a system or method reconciling practical ends with scientific laws

cooking is both a science and an art

4

capitalized : christian science

5

: the state of knowing : knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding

Synonyms

• knowledge
• lore
• wisdom

Examples of science in a Sentence

The Malay tapir, the largest of the world's four tapir species, remained largely invisible to science until recently. The other three species of these odd, endearing animals all live in South America. —Anthony King, New York Times, 2 June 2009

If there were any doubt, Golden's muckraking investigation—he is the Ida Tarbell of college admissions—reveals that almost every word uttered by representatives of the top colleges about the care and nuance and science of the much vaunted admissions process is bunk. —Michael Wolff, New York Times Book Review, 17 Sept. 2006

Of course, there is both corporate and government-sponsored grant money available for such initiatives in science and engineering. And scientists are used to working together in laboratories. But in the humanities it was different, said the deans. —David Laurence, Association of Departments of English Bulletin, Winter 2004

The journal Annales was started in 1929, by Bloch and Lucien Febvre, two friends conversant with the new sciences of sociology and geography, psychology and anthropology. —Stephen Kotkin, New Yorker, 29 Sept. 2003

The program encourages students to pursue a career in science.

a list of terms commonly used in science

a new branch of science

advances in science and technology

Students are required to take two sciences.

students majoring in a science

Recent Examples on the Web

There’s a sense of whimsy to this art that celebrates both the imagination and science of wayfaring. —Robin Raven, Forbes.com, 7 Apr. 2025

To build the dire wolves, scientists at Colossal, led by chief science officer Beth Shapiro, extracted DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old inner ear bone and fed it into a sequencing machine. —Andrea Marks, Rolling Stone, 7 Apr. 2025

Hoping for continued support Some, however, like Dr. Joshua Hare, who is chairman and chief science officer at biotechnology company Longeveron, are optimistic. —Sara Moniuszko, CBS News, 7 Apr. 2025

Many dire wolf remains have been found in the La Brea tar pits, for example, but the tar pit damages the DNA, said Beth Shapiro, Colossal's chief science officer. —Mike Snider, USA Today, 7 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, "knowledge, the ability to know, learning, branch of knowledge," borrowed from Anglo-French science, cience, borrowed from Latin scientia "knowledge, awareness, understanding, branch of knowledge, learning," noun derivative from scient-, sciens, present participle of sciō, scīre "to know," perhaps going back to Indo-European *skh₂-i(e/o)-, present tense formation from a verbal base *skeh₂-, *skh₂- "cut open, flay" (if sense development was "cut, incise, mark" > "distinguish" > "know"), whence also Sanskrit -chyati "(s/he) flays, pulls off (skin)" (verbal adjective chātaḥ, chitáḥ) and perhaps Greek scházō, scházein, also scháō, schân "to make an incision, open (a vein), let flow"

Note: Regarding earlier use of the words science and scientist see the reference to the article by Sydney Ross in the note at scientist. — Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben (2. Auflage, 2001) regards Latin sciō as a back-formation from nesciō, nescīre "to not know, be unfamiliar with," going back to *ne-skH-ii̯e-, a negative compound from the base of secō, secāre "to cut, sever, make an incision" (see saw entry 2), going back to *sekai̯e-, going back to *sekH-i̯e-. M. de Vaan (Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, Brill, 2008), on the other hand, hypothesizes that sciō is formed with an athematic suffix from *skh₂-, so that as a present formation it is directly comparable with Sanskrit -chyati. The semantic progression producing a verb meaning "know" is in any case questionable, if, as the Indo-Iranian and Greek evidence suggests, the base *skeh₂-, *skh₂- means primarily "cut open, flay" (rather than "split, separate"). Ernout and Meillet (Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine) note that while this is the only plausible comparison for sciō, it is not at all certain ("Le rapprochement avec le groupe de 'couper' est en l'air, tout en étant, semble-t-il, le seul possible.")

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 5

Phrases Containing science

• anti-science
• behavioral science
• big science
• cognitive science
• computer science
• creation science
• domestic science
• earth science
• exact science
• hard science
• have (got) (something) down to a science
• information science
• library science
• life science
• master of science
• materials science
• military science
• natural science
• physical science
• planetary science
• policy science
• political science
• rocket science
• science fair
• science fiction
• science park
• social science
• soil science
• sub-science

Rhymes for science

• appliance
• compliance
• defiance
• reliance
• geoscience
• neuroscience
• noncompliance
• pseudoscience

Kids Definition

science

noun

sci·​ence ˈsī-ən(t)s 

1

a

: an area of knowledge that is an object of study

b

: something (as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like a science

have it down to a science

c

: any of the natural sciences (as biology, physics, or chemistry)

2

: knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through the scientific method

Etymology

Middle English science "the state of knowing, knowledge," from early French science (same meaning), from Latin scientia (same meaning), from scient-, sciens "knowing," from scire "to know" — related to conscious, nice, omniscient see Word History at nice

Medical Definition

science

noun

sci·​ence ˈsī-ən(t)s 

: knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through the scientific method and concerned with the physical world and its phenomena