boson

noun

: a particle (such as a photon or meson) whose spin quantum number is zero or an integral number compare fermion
bosonic adjective

Examples of boson in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
For example, in the search for the Higgs boson, two research centers at CERN, the European Council for Nuclear Research, ATLAS and CMS, independently replicated the detection of a particle with a large unique mass, leading to the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics. Amanda Kay Montoya, The Conversation, 17 July 2025 In 2012: Scientists at CERN announced the discovery of a new particle that possessed no electrical charge and bears the elusive signs of the Higgs boson. Daily Briefing, AZCentral.com, 4 July 2025 Working independently in 1926, Fermi and Dirac both figured out what was going wrong: Electrons are not bosons. Matt Von Hippel, Quanta Magazine, 23 June 2025 One history might be like the pathway Ghosh was asked to study, in which two W bosons fuse to form a Higgs boson before the Higgs boson splits into two Z bosons. Matt Von Hippel, ArsTechnica, 23 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for boson

Word History

Etymology

Satyendranath Bose †1974 Indian physicist + -on entry 2

First Known Use

1947, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of boson was in 1947

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Boson.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boson. Accessed 7 Aug. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on boson

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!