Standard Lemma guide

atomic

adj · noun · 13 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: əˈtŏm.ĭk
  • Received-Pronunciation: /əˈtɒm.ɪk/
  • General-American: əˈtä.mĭk
  • General-American: /əˈtɑː.mɪk/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: əˈtŏm.ĭk
  • Australian: /əˈtɔm.ɪk/
  • rhymes with -ɒmɪk
  • CMU ARPABET: AH0 T AA1 M IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or relating to atoms; composed of atoms; monatomic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

Examples

  • A stream of atomic hydrogen is emitted.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: molecular

2

adj

Meaning 2

Employing or relating to nuclear energy or processes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • atomic energy; atomic bombs
  • Some nutjob once built a small atomic pile in his back yard.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Employing or relating to nuclear energy or processes.

Very strong and overpowering.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, colloquial, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nuclear

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Infinitesimally small.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • The hairs on a dust mite are almost atomic.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adj

Meaning 5

Unable to be split or made any smaller.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • A bit is an atomic item of data.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: discrete, indivisible, unatomizable

Antonyms: none provided

6

adj

Meaning 6

Unable to be split or made any smaller.

Containing a single change, as opposed to involving numerous unrelated changes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, programming, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: discrete, indivisible, unatomizable

Antonyms: none provided

7

adj

Meaning 7

Unable to be split or made any smaller.

Lacking logical operators; unable to be made simpler in logical form.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: human-sciences, logic, mathematics, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: discrete, indivisible, unatomizable

Antonyms: none provided

8

adj

Meaning 8

Unable to be split or made any smaller.

Such that for every element b>0 there exists an atom a such that b≥a>0.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: mathematics, order-theory, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: discrete, indivisible, unatomizable

Antonyms: none provided

9

adj

Meaning 9

Guaranteed to complete either fully or not at all while waiting in a pause, and running synchronously when called by multiple asynchronous threads.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • In order to avoid race conditions, this operation has to be atomic.
  • Whenever possible, use atomic types instead of mutexes.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

An atomic operation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

adjective

Meaning 11

(weapons) deriving destructive energy from the release of atomic energy

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • nuclear war
  • nuclear weapons
  • atomic bombs

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nuclear

Antonyms: none provided

12

adjective

Meaning 12

of or relating to or comprising atoms

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • atomic structure
  • atomic hydrogen

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

adjective satellite

Meaning 13

immeasurably small

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Hellenic *ə- Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) Proto-Indo-European *temh1- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō) Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Hellenic *-ós ▲ Ancient Greek -ος (-os)influ. Ancient Greek -ός (-ós) Ancient Greek *τομός (*tomós) Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos)bor. Latin atomusbor. Middle French athomebor. Middle English attome English atom Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icuslbor. Old French -iquebor. Middle English -ik English -ic English atomic From atom + -ic.

Across languages

Translations

104 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: atómicu — of, or relating to atoms
  • Breton: atomek — of, or relating to atoms
  • Bulgarian: а́томен (átomen) — of, or relating to atoms
  • Catalan: atòmic — of, or relating to atoms
  • Dutch: atomair — of, or relating to atoms
  • Finnish: atomi- — of, or relating to atoms
  • Finnish: atomaarinen — of, or relating to atoms
  • Finnish: atominen — of, or relating to atoms
  • French: atomique — of, or relating to atoms
  • Galician: atómico — of, or relating to atoms
  • Georgian: ატომური (aṭomuri) — of, or relating to atoms
  • German: atomar — of, or relating to atoms
  • German: atomisch — of, or relating to atoms
  • Greek: ατομικός (atomikós) — of, or relating to atoms
  • Haitian Creole: atomik — of, or relating to atoms
  • Hebrew: אָטוֹמִי (atómi) — of, or relating to atoms
  • Hindi: आणविक (āṇvik) — of, or relating to atoms
  • Hungarian: atomos — of, or relating to atoms
  • Hungarian: atomi — of, or relating to atoms
  • Irish: adamhach — of, or relating to atoms
  • Italian: atomico — of, or relating to atoms
  • Latin: atomicus — of, or relating to atoms
  • Manx: breneenagh — of, or relating to atoms
  • Norman: atonmique — of, or relating to atoms
  • Norwegian Bokmål: atom- — of, or relating to atoms
  • Occitan: atomic — of, or relating to atoms
  • Polish: atomowy — of, or relating to atoms
  • Brazilian Portuguese: atômico — of, or relating to atoms
  • European Portuguese: atómico — of, or relating to atoms
  • Romanian: atomic — of, or relating to atoms
  • Russian: а́томный (átomnyj) — of, or relating to atoms
  • Spanish: atómico — of, or relating to atoms
  • Swedish: atomär — of, or relating to atoms
  • Ukrainian: а́томний (átomnyj) — of, or relating to atoms
  • Welsh: atomig — of, or relating to atoms
  • Yiddish: אַטאָמיש (atomish) — of, or relating to atoms
  • Arabic: نَوَوِيّ (nawawiyy) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Arabic: ذَرِّيّ (ḏarriyy) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Belarusian: а́тамны (átamny) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Bulgarian: а́томен (átomen) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Catalan: atòmic — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 原子 (yuánzǐ) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Czech: atomový — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Dutch: atomair — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Dutch: atoom- — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Dutch: kern- — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Esperanto: atoma — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Finnish: ydin- — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • French: atomique — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • French: nucléaire — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Galician: atómico — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Georgian: ატომური (aṭomuri) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • German: Atom- — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • German: atomar — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Greek: ατομικός (atomikós) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Hebrew: אָטוֹמִי (atómi) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Hindi: नाभिकीय (nābhikīya) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Ido: atomala — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Italian: atomico — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Japanese: 原子の (genshi no) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Korean: 원자 (wonja) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Norman: atonmique — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Norwegian Bokmål: atom- — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Persian: اتمی (atomi) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Polish: atomowy — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Portuguese: nuclear — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Brazilian Portuguese: atômico — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • European Portuguese: atómico — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Russian: а́томный (átomnyj) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Serbo-Croatian: атомски — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Serbo-Croatian: àtōmskī — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Slovene: atómski — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Spanish: atómico — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Swedish: atom- — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Swedish: kärn- — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Ukrainian: а́томний (átomnyj) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Welsh: atomig — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Yiddish: אַטאָמיש (atomish) — of, or employing nuclear energy or processes
  • Finnish: atomimittakaavainen — infinitesimally small
  • French: microscopique — infinitesimally small
  • French: infinitésimal — infinitesimally small
  • Greek: ατομικός (atomikós) — infinitesimally small
  • Brazilian Portuguese: atômico — infinitesimally small
  • European Portuguese: atómico — infinitesimally small
  • Swedish: atomisk — infinitesimally small
  • Swedish: atomär — infinitesimally small
  • Finnish: perus- — unable to be split
  • Finnish: jakamaton — unable to be split
  • Finnish: atominen — unable to be split
  • French: atomique — unable to be split
  • French: indivisible — unable to be split
  • Greek: ατομικός (atomikós) — unable to be split
  • Norman: atonmique — unable to be split
  • Swedish: atomisk — unable to be split
  • Swedish: atomär — unable to be split
  • Swedish: odelbar — unable to be split
  • Finnish: atominen — computing: guaranteed to either complete fully, or not at all
  • Finnish: jakamaton — computing: guaranteed to either complete fully, or not at all
  • French: atomique — computing: guaranteed to either complete fully, or not at all
  • French: indivisible — computing: guaranteed to either complete fully, or not at all
  • German: atomar — computing: guaranteed to either complete fully, or not at all
  • Greek: ατομικός (atomikós) — computing: guaranteed to either complete fully, or not at all
  • Norman: atonmique — computing: guaranteed to either complete fully, or not at all
  • Russian: атомарный (atomarnyj) — computing: guaranteed to either complete fully, or not at all
Real reading context

atomic in complete knowledge articles