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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Particle \Par"ti*cle\, noun [L. particula, dim. of pars, gen partis, a part: cf. F. particule. See {Part}, and cf. {Parcel}.]
1. A minute part or portion of matter; a morsel; a little bit; an atom; a jot; as, a particle of sand, of wood, of dust.
The small size of atoms which unite To make the smallest particle of light. --Blackmore.
2. Any very small portion or part; the smallest portion; as, he has not a particle of patriotism or virtue.
The houses had not given their commissioners authority in the least particle to recede. --Clarendon.
3. (R. C. Ch.) (a) A crumb or little piece of consecrated host. (b) The smaller hosts distributed in the communion of the laity. --Bp. Fitzpatrick.
4. (Gram.) A subordinate word that is never inflected (a preposition, conjunction, interjection); or a word that can not be used except in compositions; as, ward in backward, ly in lovely.
4. (Physics) An {elementary particle}. [PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
particle
noun
1: (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything [syn: {atom}, {molecule}, {corpuscle}, {mote}, {speck}]
2: a body having finite mass and internal structure but negligible dimensions
3: a function word that can be used in English to form phrasal verbs
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
148 Moby Thesaurus words for "particle": K-meson, ace, adjectival, adjective, adverb, adverbial, adversative conjunction, atom, attributive, beta particle, bit, butt, chip, chunk, clip, clipping, collop, conjunction, conjunctive adverb, coordinating conjunction, copulative, copulative conjunction, correlative conjunction, crumb, cut, cutting, dab, damn, disjunctive, disjunctive conjunction, dole, dollop, dot, dram, dribble, driblet, drop, droplet, dwarf, electron, end, exclamatory noun, farthing, fleck, flyspeck, form class, form word, fragment, function class, gerundive, gleam, gnat, gob, gobbet, grain, granule, graviton, groat, hair, handful, hint, hoot, hunk, interjection, iota, jot, little, little bit, lota, lump, meson, mesotron, microbe, microorganism, midge, minim, minimum, minutia, minutiae, mite, modicum, moiety, molecule, morsel, mote, neutron, nutshell, ounce, paring, part of speech, participle, past participle, pebble, perfect participle, photon, piece, pinch, pinhead, pinpoint, pion, pittance, point, preposition, present participle, proton, quark, rasher, ray, scintilla, scoop, scrap, scruple, shard, shaving, shiver, shred, slice, sliver, smidgen, smidgin, smitch, smithereen, snack, snap, snatch, snip, snippet, spark, speck, splinter, spoonful, spot, stitch, stump, subordinating conjunction, suggestion, suspicion, syllable, tatter, thimbleful, tiny bit, tittle, trifling amount, trivia, vanishing point, verbal adjective, whit, whoop
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |