Link Centre Dictionary

collision

col·li·sion

UK/kəˈlɪʒn̩/ US/kʌˈlɪʒʌn/ fairly common

noun

1.

(physics) an brief event in which two or more bodies come together

  • “the collision of the particles resulted in an exchange of energy and a change of direction”
Synonyms
2.

an accident resulting from violent impact of a moving object

  • “three passengers were killed in the collision”
  • “the collision of the two ships resulted in a serious oil spill”
3.

a conflict of opposed ideas or attitudes or goals

  • “a collision of interests”

Origin

From Middle French collision, from Latin collīsiō (“clash, concussion, collision”) (whence -ion (noun suffix denoting action, result, process, state, condition)), from collīsus (“clashed together, conflicted, contended”), past participle of collīdō (“to clash, strike, dash, beat, or press together”) (whence collide), from con- (“together”) + laedō (“to strike, collide, hurt”) (whence col- (assimilated form of com-)).

Phrases

  • collision attack
  • collision bulkhead
  • collision course
  • collision detection
  • collision mat
  • collision theory
  • collision time
  • Coulomb collision

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.