dark matter

noun

: nonluminous matter not yet directly detected by astronomers that is hypothesized to exist to account for various observed gravitational effects

Examples of dark matter in a Sentence

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But no one knows what the half-life of putative particles of dark matter would be. Lyndie Chiou, Scientific American, 30 Apr. 2025 But the bigger problem now is the big bang of agency memos, bulletins, circulars, and other forms of regulatory dark matter—edicts that bypass traditional public-notice rulemaking procedures, allegedly lack the force of law, yet few are brave enough to ignore. Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., Forbes.com, 28 Apr. 2025 Featuring a 130-foot-wide (39.3m) mirror, the ELT will study the universe in visible light to provide a more detailed view of potentially habitable exoplanets, the formation of the first galaxies, supermassive black holes, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 23 Apr. 2025 The telescope can map out the location of otherwise-invisible dark matter by looking for signs of gravitational lensing—the phenomenon where the gravity from massive objects distorts the light from galaxies behind them. Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for dark matter

Word History

First Known Use

1933, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of dark matter was in 1933

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Cite this Entry

“Dark matter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dark%20matter. Accessed 11 May. 2025.

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