particle

Definition

A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something.

Etymology

From Middle French particule, and its source, Latin particula (“small part, particle”), diminutive of pars (“part, piece”).

Example Sentences

• "Be content with the knowledge that, ere the voyage had ended, both she and I were desperately and unreasoningly in love with one another. Heaven knows that I can make the admission now without one particle of vanity."
• "Not every exasperated petty bourgeois could have become Hitler, but a particle of Hitler is lodged in every exasperated petty bourgeois."
• "What, he asked himself, does quantum theory have to say about the familiar properties of particles such as position?"

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