English Explanatory Dictionary

physicist

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A person whose occupation specializes in the science of physics, especially at a professional level.
  2. A believer in the theory that the fundamental phenomena of life are to be explained upon purely chemical and physical principles (opposed to vitalist).

Pronunciation

/ˈfɪzɪsɪst/ En-us-physicist.ogg

Word forms

physicist physicists

Etymology

From physics + -ist. Coined by the English polymath William Whewell (1794–1866) in his book The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences (1840): see the quotation.

Derived words

agrophysicist astrophysicist biophysicist condensed matter physicist econophysicist geophysicist health physicist iatrophysicist mathematical physicist microphysicist neurophysicist nonphysicist nuclear physicist paraphysicist petrophysicist photophysicist protophysicist psychophysicist radiophysicist sociophysicist tectonophysicist theoretical physicist
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