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Webster 1913 Edition

Science

Sci′ence

,
Noun.
[F., fr. L.
scientia
, fr.
sciens
,
-entis
, p. pr. of
scire
to know. Cf.
Conscience
,
Conscious
,
Nice
.]
1.
Knowledge; knowledge of principles and causes; ascertained truth of facts.
If we conceive God’s sight or
science
, before the creation, to be extended to all and every part of the world, seeing everything as it is, . . . his
science
or sight from all eternity lays no necessity on anything to come to pass.
Hammond.
Shakespeare's deep and accurate
science
in mental philosophy.
Coleridge.
2.
Accumulated and established knowledge, which 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.
All this new
science
that men lere [teach].
Chaucer.
Science
is . . . a complement of cognitions, having, in point of form, the character of logical perfection, and in point of matter, the character of real truth.
Sir W. Hamilton.
3.
Especially, such knowledge when it relates to the physical world and its phenomena, the nature, constitution, and forces of matter, the qualities and functions of living tissues, etc.; – called also
natural science
, and
physical science
.
Voltaire hardly left a single corner of the field entirely unexplored in
science
, poetry, history, philosophy.
J. Morley.
4.
Any branch or department of systematized knowledge considered as a distinct field of investigation or object of study;
as, the
science
of astronomy, of chemistry, or of mind
.
☞ The ancients reckoned seven sciences, namely, grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy; – the first three being included in the Trivium, the remaining four in the Quadrivium.
Good sense, which only is the gift of Heaven,
And though no
science
, fairly worth the seven.
Pope.
5.
Art, skill, or expertness, regarded as the result of knowledge of laws and principles.
His
science
, coolness, and great strength.
G. A. Lawrence.
☞ Science is applied or pure. Applied science is a knowledge of facts, events, or phenomena, as explained, accounted for, or produced, by means of powers, causes, or laws. Pure science is the knowledge of these powers, causes, or laws, considered apart, or as pure from all applications. Both these terms have a similar and special signification when applied to the science of quantity; as, the applied and pure mathematics. Exact science is knowledge so systematized that prediction and verification, by measurement, experiment, observation, etc., are possible. The mathematical and physical sciences are called the exact sciences.
Comparative sciences
,
Inductive sciences
.
See under
Comparative
, and
Inductive
.
Syn. – Literature; art; knowledge.
–
Science
,
Literature
,
Art
. Science is literally knowledge, but more usually denotes a systematic and orderly arrangement of knowledge. In a more distinctive sense, science embraces those branches of knowledge of which the subject-matter is either ultimate principles, or facts as explained by principles or laws thus arranged in natural order. The term literature sometimes denotes all compositions not embraced under science, but usually confined to the belles-lettres. [See
Literature
.] Art is that which depends on practice and skill in performance. “In science, scimus ut sciamus; in art, scimus ut producamus. And, therefore, science and art may be said to be investigations of truth; but one, science, inquires for the sake of knowledge; the other, art, for the sake of production; and hence science is more concerned with the higher truths, art with the lower; and science never is engaged, as art is, in productive application. And the most perfect state of science, therefore, will be the most high and accurate inquiry; the perfection of art will be the most apt and efficient system of rules; art always throwing itself into the form of rules.”
Karslake.

Sci′ence

,
Verb.
T.
To cause to become versed in science; to make skilled; to instruct.
[R.]
Francis.

Webster 1828 Edition

Science

SCI'ENCE

,
Noun.
[L. scientia, from scio, to know.]
1.
In a general sense, knowledge, or certain knowledge; the comprehension or understanding of truth or facts by the mind. The science of God must be perfect.
2.
In philosophy, a collection of the general principles or leading truths relating to any subject. Pure science, as the mathematics, is built on self-evident truths; but the term science is also applied to other subjects founded on generally acknowledged truths, as metaphysics; or on experiment and observation, as chimistry and natural philosophy; or even to an assemblage of the general principles of an art, as the science of agriculture; the science of navigation. Arts relate to practice, as painting and sculpture.
A principle in science is a rule in art.
3.
Art derived from precepts or built on principles.
Science perfects genius.
4.
Any art or species of knowledge.
No science doth make known the first principles on which it buildeth.
5.
One of the seven liberal branches of knowledge, viz grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music.
[Note - Authors have not always been careful to use the terms art and science with due discrimination and precision. Music is an art as well as a science. In general, an art is that which depends on practice or performance, and science that which depends on abstract or speculative principles. The theory of music is a science; the practice of it an art.]

Definition 2024

science

science

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsaɪəns/
  • Hyphenation: sci‧ence
  • Rhymes: -aɪəns

Noun

science ‎(countable and uncountable, plural sciences)

  1. (countable) A particular discipline or branch of learning, especially one dealing with measurable or systematic principles rather than intuition or natural ability. [from 14th c.]
    • 2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
      Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.
    Of course in my opinion Social Studies is more of a science than an art.‎
  2. (uncountable, archaic) Knowledge gained through study or practice; mastery of a particular discipline or area. [from 14th c.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.i:
      For by his mightie Science he had seene / The secret vertue of that weapon keene [...].
    • Hammond
      If we conceive God's or science, before the creation, to be extended to all and every part of the world, seeing everything as it is, […] his science or sight from all eternity lays no necessity on anything to come to pass.
    • Samuel Taylor Coleridge
      Shakespeare's deep and accurate science in mental philosophy
  3. (now only theology) The fact of knowing something; knowledge or understanding of a truth. [from 14th c.]
    • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, I Timothy 6:20-21
      O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding vain and profane babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.
  4. (uncountable) The collective discipline of study or learning acquired through the scientific method; the sum of knowledge gained from such methods and discipline. [from 18th c.]
    • 1951 January 1, Albert Einstein, letter to Maurice Solovine, as published in Letters to Solovine (1993)
      I have found no better expression than "religious" for confidence in the rational nature of reality […] Whenever this feeling is absent, science degenerates into uninspired empiricism.
    • 2012 January 1, Philip E. Mirowski, “Harms to Health from the Pursuit of Profits”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 87:
      In an era when political leaders promise deliverance from decline through America’s purported preeminence in scientific research, the news that science is in deep trouble in the United States has been as unwelcome as a diagnosis of leukemia following the loss of health insurance.
  5. (uncountable) Knowledge derived from scientific disciplines, scientific method, or any systematic effort.
    • 2001 September, Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Over the rainbow”, in Natural History, volume 110, number 7, page 30:
      While much good science has come from the Hubble telescope (including the most reliable measure to date for the expansion rate of the universe), you would never know from media accounts that the foundation of our cosmic knowledge continues to flow primarily from the analysis of spectra and not from looking at pretty pictures.
  6. (uncountable) The scientific community.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Dara Ó Briain as stand-up comedian, Dara Ó Briain Talks Funny – Live in London, United Kingdom, published 2008:
      Science knows it doesn't know everything; otherwise, it'd stop.
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Verb

science ‎(third-person singular simple present sciences, present participle sciencing, simple past and past participle scienced)

  1. (transitive) To cause to become versed in science; to make skilled; to instruct.
    Bro, do you even science?
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis to this entry?)

Etymology 2

See scion.

Noun

science

  1. Obsolete spelling of scion

French

Etymology

From Middle French science, from Old French science, escience, a borrowing from Latin scientia.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sjɑ̃s/
  • Rhymes: -ɑ̃s
  • Homophone: sciences

Noun

science f ‎(plural sciences)

  1. science (field of study, etc.)

Related terms

References

  1. ↑ http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/science

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French science.

Noun

science f (plural sciences)

  1. science (field of study, etc.)
  2. knowledge

Descendants

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin scientia.

Noun

science f ‎(nominative singular science)

  1. knowledge; wisdom

Descendants

Etymology

From Middle English science, scyence, a borrowing from Old French science, escience, from Latin scientia ‎(“knowledge”), from sciens, the present participle stem of scire ‎(“to know”).

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