Fissions

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process whereby an atomic nucleus breaks apart into smaller nuclei, leading to energy release; the act of dividing a whole into separate segments or components; a cellular mechanism that results in the division and replication of cells or organisms
2. The splitting of an atomic nucleus into smaller fragments releasing energy ; the process of breaking something into multiple pieces or parts ; the biological division of a cell or organism into two or more parts
3. A reaction in which a nucleus breaks down into smaller nuclei while releasing energy ; the action of separating a whole into distinct elements ; the process by which a living cell or organism separates to reproduce

Etymology: Fission is a plural noun in this use, and the singular "fission" is borrowed from Latin "fissiō," meaning "the act of breaking up." That Latin noun comes from the verb "findō," "to split or divide," so the scientific sense of splitting an atomic nucleus preserves the original meaning of splitting something apart. The plural "fissions" simply counts separate instances of that splitting, each one a nucleus breaking into smaller pieces. The word's core idea of division is unchanged from Latin; only its object has shifted, from ordinary things to the nucleus of an atom.

Synonyms: splits, divisions