ˈsīən(t)s, in rapid speech often -īn- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin scientia knowledge, science, from scient-, sciens (present participle of scire to know) + -ia -y; akin to Latin scindere to cut, split — more at shed
1.
a. : possession of knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding : knowledge as a personal attribute
I speak from science and the voice is fate — Alexander Pope
b. : knowledge possessed or attained through study or practice
science crown my age — Thomas Gray
2.
a. : a branch or department of systematized knowledge that is or can be made a specific object of study
the basic tool sciences of reading, writing, and ciphering
learned in the science of theology
b. : something (as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge
skilled in the science of evading work
little interested in cards and such like science
as
(1) obsolete : a trained skill (as in an occupation)
(2) : fencing
(3) : boxing
c. : studies mainly in the works of ancient and modern philosophers formerly taught as a group or field of specialization (as at Oxford University)
d. : any of the individual subjects taught at an educational institution in one of the departments of natural science
required to take two sciences to complete a minor
students majoring in a science
— compare humanity 3c
3.
a. : accumulated and accepted knowledge that has been systematized and formulated with reference to the discovery of general truths or the operation of general laws : knowledge classified and made available in work, life, or the search for truth : comprehensive, profound, or philosophical knowledge ; especially : knowledge obtained and tested through use of the scientific method
b. : such knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena : natural science
4. : a branch of study that is concerned with observation and classification of facts and especially with the establishment or strictly with the quantitative formulation of verifiable general laws chiefly by induction and hypotheses
mathematical science
5. : a system based or purporting to be based upon scientific principles : a method (as of arrangement, functioning) reconciling practical or utilitarian ends with scientific laws
husbandry is a science
a student of culinary science
6. usually capitalized : christian science
Synonyms: see knowledge