semiclassical

S1E1M3I1C3L1A1S1S1I1C3A1L1

adjective

That is classical but has broad, popular appeal.

UncommonScrabble 19

Meanings

adjectivesemiclassical (comparative more semiclassical, superlative most semiclassical)

comparative more semiclassical · superlative most semiclassical

  1. entertainmentThat is classical but has broad, popular appeal.
  2. natural sciencesOf, pertaining to, or being a theory that describes a physical system by dividing it into two parts, one described by classical physics and the other by either relativistic or quantum mechanical physics.

    The semiclassical approach to the relativistic theory has been recently worked out by several authors and the #92;hbar² corrections to the earlier established TF relativistic theory have been derived¹⁷⁻¹⁹.

    1994, X. Viñas, M. Centelles, M. Durand, P. Schuck, “On the Variational Content of the Wigner-Kirkwood hbar Expansion”, in Carlos Fiolhais, Manuel Fiolhais, Celia Sousa, Jose N Urbano, editors, Proceedings of the International Conference on Many-body Physics, World Scientific, page 392
    2 more examples

    2020, Bei-Lok B. Hu, Enric Verdaguer, Semiclassical and Stochastic Gravity, Cambridge University Press, page 337, Whereas semiclassical gravity is based on the semiclassical Einstein equation with sources given by the expectation value of the stress-energy tensor of quantum fields, stochastic semiclassical gravity is based on the Einstein—Langevin equation, which has in addition sources due to the noise kernel.

    2024, Chaoyuan Zhu, Semiclassical Nonadiabatic Molecular Dynamics, Springer, page 109, Of course, the main problem with such semiclassical treatment is to find suitable coordinate[s] in which [a] multidimensional scattering or reaction Schrödinger equation has to be expanded into the certain one-dimensional many-state coupled Schrödinger equations like Equation 4.219.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sem-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*sēmi
  3. Latinsēmi-
  4. Englishsemi-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*kelh₁-
  6. Proto-Italic*klāssis
  7. Latinclassis
  8. Latinclassicu
  9. Frenchclassique
  10. Englishclassic
  11. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  12. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  13. Englishclassical
  14. Englishsemiclassical

From semi- + classical.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Italian semiclassico, semiclassico
  • semiclassicomusic
  • semiclassicophysics
Cite this entry
APA

semiclassical. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/semiclassical

MLA

“semiclassical.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/semiclassical. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “semiclassical,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/semiclassical.

Source: semiclassical on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.