-ics - 3 dictionary results
-ics
| a suffix of nouns that denote a body of facts, knowledge, principles, etc., usually corresponding to adjectives ending in -ic or -ical: ethics; physics; politics; tactics. |
Origin:
pl. of -ic, repr. L -ica (< Gk -ika, neut. pl. of -ikos), as in rhētórica (pl.) rhetoric book
pl. of -ic, repr. L -ica (< Gk -ika, neut. pl. of -ikos), as in rhētórica (pl.) rhetoric book
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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| -ics
suff.
[-ic + -s1 (translation of Greek -ika, from neuter pl. of -ikos, adj. suff).] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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-ics
A*cous"tics\ (#; 277), n. [Names of sciences in -ics, as, acoustics, mathematics, etc., are usually treated as singular. See -ics.] (Physics.) The science of sounds, teaching their nature, phenomena, and laws. Acoustics, then, or the science of sound, is a very considerable branch of physics. --Sir J. Herschel. Note: The science is, by some writers, divided, into diacoustics, which explains the properties of sounds coming directly from the ear; and catacoustica, which treats of reflected sounds or echoes.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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