different between antimatter vs contraterrene

English

Etymology

From anti- +? matter. Coined by British physicist Arthur Schuster in 1898 to describe matter that resists gravity in a jocular article in Nature titled "Potential Matter.—A Holiday Dream", but not used in a modern sense until the 1940s.

Alternative forms

• anti-matter

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ænti?mæt?/, /?ænta??mæt?/

Noun

antimatter (usually uncountable, plural antimatters)

1. (physics) Matter that is composed of the antiparticles of those that constitute normal matter.
2. (physics) A form of matter that has a key property, such as charge, opposite to that of ordinary matter.

Derived terms

• antimatter rocket

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• contra-terrene
• contra terrene

Etymology

• contra- +? terrene
• Physics meaning from physicist Dirac's notion that an ordinary electron “rests” on the Dirac sea (terrene) whereas a positron exists as a “hole” in that sea (contra-terrene).

Adjective

contraterrene (comparative more contraterrene, superlative most contraterrene)

1. Not terrestrial.
2. (obsolete, physics) Of or pertaining to antimatter.

References

• OED 2nd edition 1989