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APG.American
Pronunciation Guide
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

atom

/ˈætəm/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:03
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What does atom mean?

noun

  1. The smallest possible amount of matter which still retains its identity as a chemical element, now known to consist of a nucleus surrounded by electrons.
  2. A hypothetical particle posited by Greek philosophers as an ultimate and indivisible component of matter.
  3. The smallest, indivisible constituent part or unit of something.
More meanings (10)

noun

  1. In logical atomism, a fundamental fact that cannot be further broken down.
  2. A mote of dust in a sunbeam.
  3. A very small amount; a whit.
  4. An individual number or symbol, as opposed to a list; a scalar value.
  5. An integer representing a particular string.
  6. A non-zero member of a partially ordered set that has only zero below it (assuming that the poset has a least element, its "zero").
  7. An element of a set that is not itself a set; an urelement.
  8. An age group division in hockey for nine- to eleven-year-olds.
  9. (historical) The smallest medieval unit of time, equal to fifteen ninety-fourths of a second.

proper noun

  1. A Meitei surname from Manipuri
Wiktionary contributors Wiktionary contributors

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈætəm/

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

It was the single atom of life that the scene contained, and it only served to render the general loneliness more evident.
Thomas HardyThe Return of the NativeProject Gutenberg ebook #122
All have a larger or smaller share of it, from the live atom to the anthropoid ape, that hideous caricature of man.
Jean-Henri FabreThe Mason-BeesTranslated by Alexander Teixeira de MattosProject Gutenberg ebook #2884
More book examples (3)
It would be hard to say why the luminiferous ether should be relegated to the "unseen world" any more than the material atom.
John FiskeThe Unseen World, and Other EssaysProject Gutenberg ebook #1486
Think you not, it is worth the effort to penetrate beyond that point where the atom disappears from the view of the scientist?
Thomas H. Burgoyne; Belle M. WagnerThe Light of Egypt; Or, The Science of the Soul and the Stars — Volume 2Project Gutenberg ebook #1650
We now think of the body as composed of minute corpuscles rotating around one another within the atom at relatively immense distances.
Henry LindlahrNature Cure: Philosophy & Practice Based on the Unity of Disease & CureProject Gutenberg ebook #4273