| / English Dictionary |
STATE OF MATTER
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(chemistry) the three traditional states of matter are solids (fixed shape and volume) and liquids (fixed volume and shaped by the container) and gases (filling the container)
Example:
the solid state of water is called ice
Synonyms:
state; state of matter
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("state of matter" is a kind of...):
chemical phenomenon (any natural phenomenon involving chemistry (as changes to atoms or molecules))
Attribute:
solid (of definite shape and volume; firm; neither liquid nor gaseous)
liquid (existing as or having characteristics of a liquid; especially tending to flow)
gaseous (existing as or having characteristics of a gas)
Domain category:
chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "state of matter"):
form; phase ((physical chemistry) a distinct state of matter in a system; matter that is identical in chemical composition and physical state and separated from other material by the phase boundary)
liquid; liquid state; liquidity; liquidness (the state in which a substance exhibits a characteristic readiness to flow with little or no tendency to disperse and relatively high incompressibility)
solid; solid state; solidness (the state in which a substance has no tendency to flow under moderate stress; resists forces (such as compression) that tend to deform it; and retains a definite size and shape)
gas; gaseous state (the state of matter distinguished from the solid and liquid states by: relatively low density and viscosity; relatively great expansion and contraction with changes in pressure and temperature; the ability to diffuse readily; and the spontaneous tendency to become distributed uniformly throughout any container)
plasma ((physical chemistry) a fourth state of matter distinct from solid or liquid or gas and present in stars and fusion reactors; a gas becomes a plasma when it is heated until the atoms lose all their electrons, leaving a highly electrified collection of nuclei and free electrons)
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