Phrase guide

theory of relativity

noun · 2 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

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The theories of special relativity and general relativity, two theories in physics developed mainly by Albert Einstein at the beginning of the 20th century from which several important results such as the equivalence of matter and energy and the Einstein field equations are derived.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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

(physics) the theory that space and time are relative concepts rather than absolute concepts

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: relativity, relativity theory, Einstein's theory of relativity

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: scientific theory

Narrower terms: general relativity, general theory of relativity, general relativity theory, Einstein's general theory of relativity, special relativity, special theory of relativity, special relativity theory, Einstein's special theory of relativity

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

34 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: тэо́рыя адно́снасці (teóryja adnósnasci) — special and general relativity
  • Bulgarian: тео́рия на относителността́ (teórija na otnositelnosttá) — special and general relativity
  • Catalan: teoria de la relativitat — special and general relativity
  • Chinese Mandarin: 相對論 /相对论 (xiāngduìlùn) — special and general relativity
  • Czech: teorie relativity — special and general relativity
  • Dutch: relativiteitstheorie — special and general relativity
  • Faroese: relativitetsástøði — special and general relativity
  • Finnish: suhteellisuusteoria — special and general relativity
  • Galician: teoría da relatividade — special and general relativity
  • Georgian: ფარდობითობის თეორია (pardobitobis teoria) — special and general relativity
  • German: Relativitätstheorie — special and general relativity
  • Hungarian: relativitáselmélet — special and general relativity
  • Icelandic: afstæðiskenning — special and general relativity
  • Icelandic: afstæðiskenningin — special and general relativity
  • Irish: teoiric na coibhneasachta — special and general relativity
  • Irish: teoiric ghinearálta na coibhneasachta — special and general relativity
  • Japanese: 相対性理論 (sōtaisei riron) — special and general relativity
  • Korean: 상대성이론 (sangdaeseong'iron) — special and general relativity
  • Mongolian: харьцангуйн онол (xarʹcangujn onol) — special and general relativity
  • Norwegian Bokmål: relativitetsteori — special and general relativity
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: relativitetsteori — special and general relativity
  • Polish: teoria względności — special and general relativity
  • Portuguese: teoria da relatividade — special and general relativity
  • Romanian: teoria relativității — special and general relativity
  • Russian: тео́рия относи́тельности (teórija otnosítelʹnosti) — special and general relativity
  • Spanish: teoría de la relatividad — special and general relativity
  • Swedish: relativitetsteori — special and general relativity
  • Tagalog: hunang sang-ugnayan — special and general relativity
  • Turkish: izafiyet nazariyesi — special and general relativity
  • Turkish: relativite teorisi — special and general relativity
  • Turkish: görelik kuramı — special and general relativity
  • Ukrainian: тео́рія відно́сності (teórija vidnósnosti) — special and general relativity
  • Vietnamese: thuyết tương đối — special and general relativity
  • Yiddish: טעאָריע פֿון רעלאַטיוויטעט (teorye fun relativitet) — special and general relativity