noun
the process or result of joining two or more things together to form a single entity.
• Physics short for nuclear fusion .
• the process of causing a material or object to melt with intense heat, esp. so as to join with another.
• music that is a mixture of different styles, esp. jazz and rock.
ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: from Latin fusio(n-), from fundere 'pour, melt.'
nuclear fusion
noun
a nuclear reaction in which atomic nuclei of low atomic number fuse to form a heavier nucleus with the release of energy.
fission
noun
the action of dividing or splitting something into two or more parts.
• short for nuclear fission .
• Biology reproduction by means of a cell or organism dividing into two or more new cells or organisms.
verb [ intrans. ]
(chiefly of atoms) undergo fission.
ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from Latin fissio(n-), from findere 'to split.'
nuclear fission
noun
a nuclear reaction in which a heavy nucleus splits spontaneously or on impact with another particle, with the release of energy.
mate
ORIGIN late Middle English : from Middle Low German māt(e) 'comrade,' of West Germanic origin; related to meat (the underlying notion being that of eating together).
ORIGIN late Middle English (in the sense [join] ): from Latin copulat- 'fastened together,' from the verb copulare, from copula (see copula ).
coition
noun
another term for coitus .
ORIGIN mid 16th cent.(in the sense [meeting or uniting] ): from Latin coitio(n-), from the verb coire, from co- 'together' + ire 'go.'
intimate
ORIGIN early 17th cent.(as a noun): from late Latin intimatus, past participle of Latin intimare 'impress, make familiar,' from intimus 'inmost.'
divorce
ORIGIN late Middle English : the noun from Old French divorce, from Latin divortium, based on divertere (see divert ); the verb from Old French divorcer, from late Latin divortiare, from divortium.
divert
ORIGIN late Middle English : via French from Latin divertere, from di- 'aside' + vertere 'to turn.'
ORIGIN Middle English (as a verb): from Latin dividere 'force apart, remove.' The noun dates from the mid 17th cent.
ORIGIN mid 16th cent.(in the sense [reject scornfully, discard] ): from Latin explodere 'drive out by clapping, hiss off the stage,' from ex- 'out' + plaudere 'to clap.' Sense 2 is derived from the original sense of the word. Sense 1 (late 18th cent.) evolved via an old sense [expel with violence and sudden noise,] perhaps influenced by obsolete displode [burst with a noise.]
noun
a couple and their dependent children, regarded as a basic social unit.
atom
noun
the basic unit of a chemical element.
ORIGIN late 15th cent.: from Old French atome, via Latin from Greek atomos 'indivisible,' based on a- 'not' + temnein 'to cut.'
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