- pronunciation - Why is vacuum pronounced [ˈvæ. kjuːm] and not [ˈvæ . . .
+1 It seems that vacuum is the odd word out when placed in a lineup with (for example) continuum, individuum, menstruum, and residuum I don't know why the -uum in vacuum came to be pronounced differently from the -uum in the others, but to judge from the pronunciation offered in John Walker's A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language (1807), 'twas not always thus
- differences - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
Perfect vacuum does not exist - there will always be some energy, some particles manifesting themselves spontaneously from quantum uncertainty, but generally lack of matter, including air is considered vacuum
- What does programming in a vacuum mean? - English Language Usage . . .
A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in practice Physicists often discuss ideal test results that would occur in a perfect vacuum, which they simply call "vacuum" or "free space", and use the term "partial vacuum" to refer to real vacuum
- Can I call a vacuum cleaner cleaner a vacuum cleaner?
If a 'vacuum cleaner cleaner' is a machine for cleaning vacuum cleaners, then the person who cleans the vacuum cleaner cleaner would be a 'vacuum cleaner cleaner cleaner'
- Where is the root morpheme in Modern English evacuate and vacuum?
Clearly they are related through Latin, from e- and vacare (out of and to empty) and from vacuus (empty), and in Latin the shared morpheme is vac- More interesting may be the relationships with vain, vast and waste which have similar origins in Latin or proto-Indo-European, but which have more specific meanings in modern English
- Gap, void or vacuum? - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
Considering their primary meanings, vacuum is used more often in a scientific context, in which case it means space completely or partially absent of any matter air It is a scientific term, while void can be used non-technically in a more abstract sense, but it can also be used when talking about empty space in a non-scientific way
- Electronic vs. electric - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
The vacuum tube was soon replaced by semi-conductor materials The technology was named solid state electronics because, semi-conductor materials, like vacuum, are actually insulators that can conduct more or less when activated
- meaning - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
The Cambridge Dictionary offers an even more narrow definition, where set has the specific meaning of "television set" I am wondering what the etymology of this term is here, and I have a guess: I believe that because televisions--and radios before them-- were constructed principally using a set of vacuum tubes that the set is a sort of metonym
|