Science

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsaɪəns/, /ˈsaɪɛns/
• Rhymes: -aɪəns

From Old French science, from Latin scientia ("knowledge"), from sciens, the present participle stem of scire ("know").

Full definition of science

Noun

1. (countable) A particular discipline or branch of learning, especially one dealing with measurable or systematic principles rather than intuition or natural ability. from 14th c.
• 2013-08-03, Boundary problems, Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.
2. Of course in my opinion Social Studies is more of a science than an art.
3. (uncountable, archaic) Knowledge gained through study or practice; mastery of a particular discipline or area. from 14th c.
• Spenser Faerie Queene, III.i:For by his mightie Science he had seene
  The secret vertue of that weapon keene ....
• HammondIf we conceive God's or science, before the creation, to be extended to all and every part of the world, seeing everything as it is, ... his science or sight from all eternity lays no necessity on anything to come to pass.
• Samuel Taylor ColeridgeShakespeare's deep and accurate science in mental philosophy
4. (now only theology) The fact of knowing something; knowledge or understanding of a truth. from 14th c.
• 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 6:20-21O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding vain and profane babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.
5. (uncountable) The collective discipline of study or learning acquired through the scientific method; the sum of knowledge gained from such methods and discipline. from 18th c.
• 1951 January 1, Albert Einstein, letter to Maurice Solovine, as published in Letters to Solovine (1993)I have found no better expression than "religious" for confidence in the rational nature of reality...Whenever this feeling is absent, science degenerates into uninspired empiricism.
• 2012-01, Philip E. Mirowski, Harms to Health from the Pursuit of Profits, In an era when political leaders promise deliverance from decline through America’s purported preeminence in scientific research, the news that science is in deep trouble in the United States has been as unwelcome as a diagnosis of leukemia following the loss of health insurance.
6. (uncountable) Knowledge derived from scientific disciplines, scientific method, or any systematic effort.
• 2001, September, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Over the rainbow, While much good science has come from the Hubble telescope (including the most reliable measure to date for the expansion rate of the universe), you would never know from media accounts that the foundation of our cosmic knowledge continues to flow primarily from the analysis of spectra and not from looking at pretty pictures.

Coordinate terms

• art

Derived terms

Verb

1. (transitive) To cause to become versed in science; to make skilled; to instruct.

See scion.

Noun