science

SY-uhns/ˈsaɪ.əns/

Pluralsciences (some meanings)

9 meanings of science

1
human inquirynoununcountable
The systematic study of the world through observation, experiment, and the testing of ideas, and the body of knowledge it produces.
Modern science relies on careful observation, experiment, and review by other experts.
Centuries of science have transformed how we treat disease.
UsageNo article for the field as a whole: modern science, science shows. A science means one field.
Note
The great uncountable enterprise invites personification. Churchill in 1931 gives it a gender ("Her feeble groping fingers"), and Conan Doyle capitalizes it: "Science knows no distinctions of the sort." The fixed phrase in the interests of science, as Conrad uses it, carries the same lofty tone.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Churchill personified science as feminine in 1931. nationalchurchillmuseum.org
Churchill used the words “Her feeble groping fingers”. en.wiktionary.org
Conrad used the phrase “in the interests of science”. gutenberg.org
2
nouncountable
A branch of knowledge organized around measurable facts and systematic principles rather than intuition or practical skill.
Linguistics is now regarded as a science, with testable claims about language.
Each science develops its own methods for gathering and checking evidence.
UsageTakes a or a plural: is economics a science?, the sciences. Often set against an art.
Similardiscipline, field, branch
Note
The countable sense lets a field be granted the name or refused it. Its usual foil is art: The Economist judged economics "too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
The Economist described economics as “too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art”. openlab.citytech.cuny.edu
3
nouncountable or uncountable
The natural sciences considered together: fields such as physics, chemistry, and biology that study the physical world.
The university groups science separately from the arts and humanities.
Funding for science has grown as governments back research in physics and biology.
UsageOften paired as science and the arts. As a school subject it takes no article: good at science.
Oppositearts, humanities
4
the expertsnouncollectiveuncountable
The collective body of scientists and researchers, regarded as a single group.
Science has largely reached consensus on the safety of vaccines.
When science speaks with one voice, policymakers tend to listen.
UsageNo article and a singular verb: science says, science has shown.
Similarscientists, researchers
Note
Here the word becomes a speaker in its own right: it knows, it is rejected, it is thanked for a vaccine. It stands bare, with no article, and takes a singular verb, as in Dara Ó Briain's "Science knows it doesn't know everything." Headlines lean on it heavily. There it can blur into the body of scientific knowledge, so ask whether people or findings are meant.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
Dara Ó Briain said, "Science knows it doesn't know everything." physics.smu.edu

Less common meanings

5
nouncountable
A task or craft that turns out best when it is carried out by an exact technique that has to be carefully mastered.
Getting a toddler to nap is a science, and her parents have it timed to the minute.
There is a real science to pricing a house so that it sells quickly.
UsageSet frames: there's a science to it, have something down to a science, more art than science.
6
solve by testingverbcolloquialhumoroustransitive
To apply scientific methods or thinking to work out a solution to a problem.
When the recipe failed, she decided to science the whole thing.
Rather than swapping parts at random, she scienced the problem, changing one thing at a time and recording the results.
Similarsolve, analyze, engineer, crack
7
boxingnouneuphemisticcountable or uncountablewith the
The sport of boxing, viewed as a skillful art, also known as 'the sweet science.'
Few fighters have mastered the science like the old heavyweight champion.
The science demands stamina, timing, and the nerve to take a punch.
UsageUse in a clear boxing context so readers understand the sporting meaning.
Similarboxing, pugilism
Note
Boxing's own name for itself always comes with the article: the science. An early treatise, The art and practice of English boxing, already uses it, and William Edwards in 1888 calls the cross-counter "the sheet-anchor of the science."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
The boxing sense of science takes the definite article. en.wiktionary.org
William Edwards's boxing manual dates to 1888. bruceleelibrary.jamescbishop.com
Edwards calls the cross-counter the sheet-anchor of the science. bruceleelibrary.jamescbishop.com
8
nounarchaicuncountable
In old use, knowledge or understanding, or skill gained through study or practice.
Shakespeare's deep and accurate science in mental philosophy
1819, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notes on Hamlet
Note
The oldest meaning sits closest to the Latin: scientia meant simply "knowledge", from scire, "to know". Here the word names what a person knows and can do, not a field of study. In Spenser's Faerie Queene of 1590, "mightie Science" lets a wise counselor see the hidden power of an enchanted spear, and Coleridge still praises Shakespeare's "deep and accurate science in mental philosophy" in his notes on Hamlet. It is archaic now, so use it for deliberate period flavor only.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
The earliest English meaning of science was knowledge or understanding. en.wikipedia.org
Latin scientia meant knowledge. en.wiktionary.org
Scientia ultimately derives from the Latin verb meaning to know. en.wikipedia.org
Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene, whose first three books first appeared in 1590. en.wikipedia.org
In the poem, the Palmer's mighty knowledge reveals the enchanted spear's hidden power. talus.artsci.wustl.edu
Coleridge praises Shakespeare's deep and accurate science in mental philosophy in his notes on Hamlet. gutenberg.org
9
trainverbarchaictransitive
To make someone skilled or learned; to instruct a person in a discipline.
I mock'd at all religious Fear, Deep-scienced in the mazy Lore Of mad Philosophy
1742, Philip Francis, Odes
Similarinstruct, teach, train, school, educate
Note
The past participle makes a handsome adjective, especially in compounds. Philip Francis, translating Horace in 1742, writes "Deep-scienced in the mazy Lore / Of mad Philosophy." The forms are regular (scienced, sciencing), but the sense is archaic. A modern ear may hear the jokey problem-solving verb instead, so use it for period flavor rather than plain instruction.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Philip Francis's translation of Horace containing this passage was first published in 1742. grubstreetproject.net
Francis's translation contains the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
The verb has the regular forms scienced and sciencing. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

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Origin

Latin "scire" ("to know") has the present participle "sciens," which gave "scientia" ("knowledge"). That became Old French "science," and Middle English took the word from French.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

Latin scire means ‘to know’ and has the present participle sciens. en.wiktionary.org
Latin scientia derives from sciens. en.wiktionary.org
Latin scientia means ‘knowledge’. en.wiktionary.org
Old French science derives from Latin scientia. en.wiktionary.org
Middle English borrowed science from French. en.wiktionary.org