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Hardware vs Physical - What's the difference?

hardware | physical |

As nouns the difference between hardware and physical

is that hardware is hardware while physical is physical examination.

As an adjective physical is

having to do with the body.

hardware

English

Noun

(-)
  • Fixtures]], equipment, tools and [[device, devices used for general-purpose construction and repair of a structure or object. Also such equipment as sold as stock by a store of the same name, e.g. hardware store.
  • He needed a hammer, nails, screws, nuts, bolts and other assorted hardware , so he went to the hardware store.
  • (informal) Equipment.
  • military hardware
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • (computing) The part of a computer that is fixed and cannot be altered without replacement or physical modification; motherboard, expansion cards, etc. Compare software.
  • * 1952 , "Binary Arithmetic", R.L. Michaelson, in The Incorporated Statistician , vol. 3, no. 1 (Feb. 1952), pp 35-40.
  • Hardware is the generally accepted colloquism for anything inside a computer other than an engineer.
  • (technology) Electronic equipment.
  • Metal implements.
  • (slang) A firearm.
  • physical

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having to do with the body.
  • Having to do with the material world.
  • * John Stuart Mill
  • Labour, in the physical world, is employed in putting objects in motion.
  • * Macaulay
  • A society sunk in ignorance, and ruled by mere physical force.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=No hiding place
  • , date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.}}
  • Involving bodily force.
  • Having to do with physics.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01, author=Michael Riordan, title=Tackling Infinity
  • , volume=100, issue=1, page=86, magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories, including quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains. Getting rid of these nagging infinities has probably occupied far more effort than was spent in originating the theories.}}
  • (label)
  • (obsolete) Relating to physic, or medicine; medicinal; curative; also, cathartic; purgative.
  • * Sir T. North
  • Physical herbs.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Is Brutus sick? and is it physical / To walk unbraced, and suck up the humours / Of the dank morning?

    Antonyms

    * mental, psychological; having to do with the mind viewed as distinct from body.

    Derived terms

    * antiphysical * physical body * physical chemistry * physical education * physical examination * physical relations * physical therapy * physical world

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Physical examination.
  • How long has it been since your last physical ?

    Synonyms

    * checkup, check-up

    Statistics

    *