Democritus

American

[dih-mok-ri-tuhs] / dɪˈmɒk rɪ təs /

noun

the Laughing Philosopher, c460–370 b.c., Greek philosopher.

Democritus British

/ dɪˈmɒkrɪtəs /

noun

?460–?370 _bc , Greek philosopher who developed the atomist theory of matter of his teacher, Leucippus See also atomism

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Democritus Scientific

/ dĭ-mŏk′rĭ-təs /

Greek philosopher who developed one of the first atomist theories of the universe. Democritus believed that the world consists of an infinite number of very small particles whose different characteristics and combinations account for the different qualities of all matter.

Example Sentences

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In Greece, for instance, Sitaridou co-introduced a pioneering new course on Pontic Greek at the Democritus University of Thrace since the number of speakers of Pontic Greek is also dwindling.

From Science Daily • Apr. 2, 2024

Long ago two ancient Greek savants, Democritus and Leucippus, argued that matter consists of atoms, a notion that would be confirmed more than two millennia later.

From Scientific American • Jul. 27, 2023

Another philosopher and scientist of the era, Democritus, maintained that the universe consisted of tiny particles he called “atoms” that came together randomly in a vortex to form the universe.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

Ingenious ancient Greeks, such as Democritus and Epicurus, were the first Atomists.

From Salon • May 16, 2019

This fine scale of roughness Democritus identified with the world of the atoms.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023