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Atom vs Trace - What's the difference?

atom | trace | Synonyms |

Atom is a synonym of trace.


As a noun atom

is an (l).

As a verb trace is

.

atom

English

(wikipedia atom)

Alternative forms

* atomus (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (history of science) A hypothetical particle posited by Greek philosophers as an ultimate and indivisible component of matter.
  • (physics, chemistry) The smallest possible amount of matter which still retains its identity as a chemical element, now known to consist of a nucleus surrounded by electrons.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author= Katie L. Burke
    • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= In the News , passage=Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis:
  • A mote of dust in a sunbeam.
  • The smallest, indivisible constituent part or unit of something. (Now generally interpreted as a figurative use of the physics sense, above.)
  • * 1835 , Sir , Sir (James Clark Ross), Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …'', Volume 1 , pp.284-5
    • Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.
  • A very small amount (of something immaterial); a whit.
  • * 1873 , (Isabella Macdonald Alden) (as "Pansy"), Three People , Western Tract and Book Society (1873), page 325:
    • "I have hardly the faintest atom of hope," answered this honest, earnest man.
  • *
    • those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength
  • (mathematics) A non-zero member of a (Boolean algebra) that is not a union of any other elements.
  • (computing, programming, Lisp) An individual number or symbol, as opposed to a list. A scalar value.

    • Synonyms

    * See also * (small amount) see also .

    Related terms

    * atom smasher * atomic * atomize

    See also

    * element

    References

    * archived version of Wikipedia page "Atom (disambiguation)"

    Anagrams

    * * * * * ----

    trace

    English

    (wikipedia trace)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) trace, traas, from (etyl) , from the verb (see below).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act of tracing.
  • A mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal.
  • A very small amount.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=7 citation , passage=The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.}}
  • (electronics) An electric current-carrying conductive pathway on a printed circuit board.
  • An informal road or prominent path in an arid area.
  • One of two straps, chains, or ropes of a harness, extending from the collar or breastplate to a whippletree attached to a vehicle or thing to be drawn; a tug.
  • (fortification) The ground plan of a work or works.
  • The intersection of a plane of projection, or an original plane, with a coordinate plane.
  • (mathematics) The sum of the diagonal elements of a square matrix.
    • Derived terms
    * downtrace, uptrace
    Synonyms
    * (mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal) track, trail * (small amount) see also .

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) tracen, from (etyl) tracer, .

    Verb

  • To follow the trail of.
  • * Milton
    • I feel thy power to trace the ways / Of highest agents.
    (Cowper)
  • To follow the history of.
  • * T. Burnet
    • You may trace the deluge quite round the globe.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=July 19 , author=Ella Davies , title=Sticks insects survive one million years without sex , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=They traced the ancient lineages of two species to reveal the insects' lengthy history of asexual reproduction.}}
  • To draw or sketch lightly or with care.
    • He carefully traced the outlines of the old building before him.
  • To copy onto a sheet of paper superimposed over the original, by drawing over its lines.
  • (obsolete) To copy; to imitate.
  • * Denham
    • That servile path thou nobly dost decline, / Of tracing word, and line by line.
  • (obsolete) To walk; to go; to travel.
  • * Spenser
    • Not wont on foot with heavy arms to trace .
  • (obsolete) To walk over; to pass through; to traverse.
  • * Shakespeare
    • We do trace this alley up and down.
    Related terms
    * tracing

    Anagrams

    * * * * * ----