Standard Lemma guide

electromagnetism

noun · 4 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.

  • ēlĕktrŏmägnĕtĭzm
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɪˌlɛk.tɹəʊˈmæɡ.nəˌtɪzm̩/
  • Canada, General-American: /ɪˌlɛk.tɹoʊˈmæɡ.nəˌtɪzm̩/
  • Australian: /ɪˌlek.tɹəʉˈmæɡ.nəˌtɪzm̩/
  • Australian: /ɪˌlek.tɹɐʉˈmæɡ.nəˌtɪzm̩/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 L EH2 K T R OW0 M AE1 G N AH0 T IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A unified fundamental force that combines the aspects of electricity and magnetism and is one of the four fundamental forces.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Electricity and magnetism, collectively, as a field of study.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: electromagnetics

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the branch of physics concerned with electromagnetic phenomena

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: electromagnetics

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: physics, natural philosophy

4

noun

Meaning 4

magnetism produced by an electric current

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • electromagnetism was discovered when it was observed that a copper wire carrying an electric current can magnetize pieces of iron or steel near it

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: magnetism, magnetic attraction, magnetic force

History

Etymology

Etymology tree French électro-bor. Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron)bor. Latin ēlectrum Latin electro-bor. English electro- Old French magnetebor. Pre-Greekbor.? Ancient Greek Μάγνης (Mágnēs) Ancient Greek μᾰ́γνης (mắgnēs)bor. Latin magnēsbor. Middle English magnete English magnet Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English magnetism English electromagnetism From electro- + magnetism.

Across languages

Translations

64 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: elektromagnetizëm — fundamental interaction
  • Arabic: كهرومغناطيسية (kahrūmiǧnātīsiyya) — fundamental interaction
  • Asturian: electromagnetismu — fundamental interaction
  • Basque: elektromagnetismo — fundamental interaction
  • Belarusian: электрамагнеты́зм (eljektramahnjetýzm) — fundamental interaction
  • Bengali: তড়িচ্চুম্বকত্ব (toṛiccumbokotto) — fundamental interaction
  • Bulgarian: електромагнети́зъм (elektromagnetízǎm) — fundamental interaction
  • Catalan: electromagnetisme — fundamental interaction
  • Chinese Mandarin: 電磁學 /电磁学 (diàncíxué) — fundamental interaction
  • Chinese Mandarin: 電磁 /电磁 (diàncí) — fundamental interaction
  • Czech: elektřina a magnetismus — fundamental interaction
  • Czech: elektromagnetismus — fundamental interaction
  • Danish: elektromagnetisme — fundamental interaction
  • Dutch: elektromagnetisme — fundamental interaction
  • Esperanto: elektromagnetismo — fundamental interaction
  • Finnish: sähkömagnetismi — fundamental interaction
  • French: électromagnétisme — fundamental interaction
  • Galician: electromagnetismo — fundamental interaction
  • Georgian: ელექტრომაგნეტიზმი (elekṭromagneṭizmi) — fundamental interaction
  • German: Elektromagnetismus — fundamental interaction
  • German: elektromagnetismus — fundamental interaction
  • Greek: ηλεκτρομαγνητισμός (ilektromagnitismós) — fundamental interaction
  • Hebrew: אלקטרומגנטיות (elektromagnitism) — fundamental interaction
  • Hindi: विद्युतचुंबकत्व (vidyutcumbkatva) — fundamental interaction
  • Hungarian: elektromágnesség — fundamental interaction
  • Icelandic: rafsegulfræði — fundamental interaction
  • Ido: elektromagnetismo — fundamental interaction
  • Indonesian: elektromagnetisme — fundamental interaction
  • Interlingua: electromagnetismo — fundamental interaction
  • Irish: leictreamaighnéadas — fundamental interaction
  • Italian: elettromagnetismo — fundamental interaction
  • Japanese: 電磁気学 (denjikigaku) — fundamental interaction
  • Japanese: 電磁気 (denjiki) — fundamental interaction
  • Kannada: ವಿದ್ಯುತ್ಕಾಂತತೆ (vidyutkāntate) — fundamental interaction
  • Korean: 전자기 (jeonjagi) — fundamental interaction
  • Korean: 전자기학 (jeonjagihak) — fundamental interaction
  • Latin: elecromagnetismus — fundamental interaction
  • Latvian: elektromagnētisms — fundamental interaction
  • Lithuanian: elektromagnetizmas — fundamental interaction
  • Luxembourgish: elektromagnetismus — fundamental interaction
  • Macedonian: електромагнети́зам (elektromagnetízam) — fundamental interaction
  • Maltese: elettromanjetiżmu — fundamental interaction
  • Māori: autōhiko — fundamental interaction
  • Marathi: विद्युतचुंबकत्व (vidyutcumbkatva) — fundamental interaction
  • Norman: êtromanniétisme — fundamental interaction
  • Norwegian: elektromagnetisme — fundamental interaction
  • Persian: الکترومغناطیس (elektromaġnâtis) — fundamental interaction
  • Polish: elektromagnetyzm — fundamental interaction
  • Portuguese: eletromagnetismo — fundamental interaction
  • Romanian: electromagnetism — fundamental interaction
  • Russian: электромагнети́зм (elektromagnetízm) — fundamental interaction
  • Sicilian: electromagnetismu — fundamental interaction
  • Slovak: elektromagnetizmus — fundamental interaction
  • Slovene: elektrika in magnetizem — fundamental interaction
  • Spanish: electromagnetismo — fundamental interaction
  • Swedish: elektromagnetism — fundamental interaction
  • Tagalog: dagibalnian — fundamental interaction
  • Tagalog: kadagibalnian — fundamental interaction
  • Tamil: மின் காந்தவியல் (miṉ kāntaviyal) — fundamental interaction
  • Telugu: విద్యుదయస్కాంతత్వం (vidyudayaskāntatvaṁ) — fundamental interaction
  • Thai: แม่เหล็กไฟฟ้า (mɛ̂ɛ-lèk-fai-fáa) — fundamental interaction
  • Turkish: elektromanyetizma — fundamental interaction
  • Ukrainian: електромагнети́зм (elektromahnetýzm) — fundamental interaction
  • Vietnamese: điện từ học — fundamental interaction
Real reading context

electromagnetism in complete knowledge articles