: knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method
b
: such knowledge or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena: natural science
2
a
: a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study
the science of theology
b
: something (such as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge
have it down to a science
3
: a system or method reconciling practical ends with scientific laws
The Malay tapir, the largest of the world's four tapir species, remained largely invisible to science until recently. The other three species of these odd, endearing animals all live in South America. Anthony King, New York Times, 2 June 2009If there were any doubt, Golden's muckraking investigation—he is the Ida Tarbell of college admissions—reveals that almost every word uttered by representatives of the top colleges about the care and nuance and science of the much vaunted admissions process is bunk. Michael Wolff, New York Times Book Review, 17 Sept. 2006Of course, there is both corporate and government-sponsored grant money available for such initiatives in science and engineering. And scientists are used to working together in laboratories. But in the humanities it was different, said the deans. David Laurence, Association of Departments of English Bulletin, Winter 2004The journal Annales was started in 1929, by Bloch and Lucien Febvre, two friends conversant with the new sciences of sociology and geography, psychology and anthropology. Stephen Kotkin, New Yorker, 29 Sept. 2003 The program encourages students to pursue a career in science. a list of terms commonly used in science a new branch of science advances in science and technology Students are required to take two sciences. students majoring in a scienceSee More
Recent Examples on the WebNational Geographic magazine, the venerable journal of science, history and the natural world, laid off six of its top editors last week in an extraordinary reorganization of its editorial ranks. Paul Farhi, Washington Post, 5 Sep. 2022 The development has been heralded as a massive leap for science, biology, and healthcare, as AlphaFold is already accelerating the discovery and development times of brand-new drugs and medicines. Tristan Bove, Fortune, 2 Sep. 2022 Campos died in 2001, but his legacy—as one of Apollo 13’s saviors and as a proponent of diversity in science, technology, engineering and math—lives on. Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Sep. 2022 What saved California from becoming Lourdes of the Pacific, what saved millions of lives the world over, was science — the miracle drugs of the 1940s and ’50s. Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2022 Unplug and play with 600+ interactive exhibits exploring science, art, and perception.San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Aug. 2022 The university's science and tech club, better known as UARK STAAR, will be hosting a free watch party — with free breakfast — at the Greek Theater on campus from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. CT. Jackie Wattles, CNN, 25 Aug. 2022 But there's not much science behind this ubiquitous recommendation. Claudia Wallis, Scientific American, 18 Aug. 2022 If anything, there's something really freeing in understanding that that's the science of it. Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 29 July 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, "knowledge, the ability to know, learning, branch of knowledge," borrowed from Anglo-French science, cience, borrowed from Latin scientia "knowledge, awareness, understanding, branch of knowledge, learning," noun derivative from scient-, sciens, present participle of sciō, scīre "to know," perhaps going back to Indo-European *skh2-i(e/o)-, present tense formation from a verbal base *skeh2-, *skh2- "cut open, flay" (if sense development was "cut, incise, mark" > "distinguish" > "know"), whence also Sanskrit -chyati "(s/he) flays, pulls off (skin)" (verbal adjective chātaḥ, chitáḥ) and perhaps Greek scházō, scházein, also scháō, schân "to make an incision, open (a vein), let flow"
Note: Regarding earlier use of the words science and scientist see the reference to the article by Sydney Ross in the note at scientist. — Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben (2. Auflage, 2001) regards Latin sciō as a back-formation from nesciō, nescīre "to not know, be unfamiliar with," going back to *ne-skH-ii̯e-, a negative compound from the base of secō, secāre "to cut, sever, make an incision" (see saw entry 2), going back to *sekai̯e-, going back to *sekH-i̯e-. M. de Vaan (Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, Brill, 2008), on the other hand, hypothesizes that sciō is formed with an athematic suffix from *skh2-, so that as a present formation it is directly comparable with Sanskrit -chyati. The semantic progression producing a verb meaning "know" is in any case questionable, if, as the Indo-Iranian and Greek evidence suggests, the base *skeh2-, *skh2- means primarily "cut open, flay" (rather than "split, separate"). Ernout and Meillet (Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine) note that while this is the only plausible comparison for sciō, it is not at all certain ("Le rapprochement avec le groupe de 'couper' est en l'air, tout en étant, semble-t-il, le seul possible.")