English Explanatory Dictionary

spacetime

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The four-dimensional continuum of the three spatial dimensions plus time.
  2. An n-dimensional continuum consisting of dimensions of both space and time. Normally spacetime is considered as having 4 dimensions (x, y, z, t), but higher-dimensional spacetimes are often encountered in theoretical physics, e.g. the 5-dimensional spacetime of Kaluza-Klein theory or the 11 dimensions of spacetime in M-theory.
  3. A specific region of the universe with mathematically different properties than the surrounding spacetime. Synonymous with "metric" within the context of general relativity.

Pronunciation

/ˈspeɪsˌtaɪm/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-spacetime.wav

Word forms

spacetime spacetimes space-time time-space

Etymology

From space + time, as a calque of German Raumzeit, introduced in this sense by Hermann Minkowski. First appears in print c. 1893 in the Philosophical Review.

Related words

time-distance

Derived words

absolute space-time cyberspacetime prespacetime spacetime metric spacetime physics spacetime singularity

Translations

Afrikaans: ruimtetyd Albanian: hapësirë-koha Albanian: hapësirë-kohë Arabic: زَمَكَان Arabic: سبيس-تايم Armenian: տարածաժամանակային կոնտինուում Armenian: տարածաժամանակ Asturian: espaciu-tiempu Azerbaijani: məkan-zaman Basque: espazio-denbora Belarusian: прасто́ра-час Bengali: স্থান-কাল Bulgarian: простра́нство-вре́ме Burmese: အာကာသအချိန် Catalan: espai-temps Catalan: espaitemps Chinese Cantonese: 時空 /时空 Chinese Mandarin: 時空 /时空 Chuvash: уҫлӑх-вӑхӑт Czech: časoprostor Danish: rumtid Dutch: ruimtetijd Dutch: ruimte-tijd Dutch: tijd-ruimte Dutch: tijdruimte Esperanto: spactempo Estonian: aegruum Finnish: aika-avaruus French: espace-temps West-Frisian: romtetiid Galician: espazo-tempo Georgian: სივრცე-დრო German: Raumzeit Greek: χωροχρόνος Hebrew: מֶרְחָב־זְמַן Hindi: दिक्काल Hindi: दिक्-काल Hungarian: téridő Icelandic: tímarúm Ido: spacotempo Indonesian: ruang waktu Interlingua: spatiotempore Irish: spás-am Italian: spaziotempo Italian: spaziotemporalità Japanese: 時空 Kazakh: уақыт-кеңістік Kazakh: кеңістік-уақыт Korean: 시공간 Korean: 시공 Central Kurdish: کاتجێ
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