Meanings
plural thermodynamicists
- A person who studies thermodynamics.
They are typified by those thermodynamicists who for decades have drawn ever closer to the temperature of absolute zero, when atoms cease all motion.
1998 April 26, Edward O. Wilson, “The Ionian Enchantment”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 29 Sep 20201 more example
In my favorite Meta A.I. ad, a woman tells her boyfriend that she’s excited to have him meet her parents — before impishly mentioning that her father is a thermodynamicist at NASA. The befuddled boyfriend rushes home, phone in hand. “Hey Meta,” he asks. “What the heck is a thermodynamicist?”
2025 June 25, Ismail Muhammad, “Why Does Every Commercial for A.I. Think You’re a Moron?”, in The New York Times Magazine, →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 Jun 2025
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷʰer-
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷʰermos
- Proto-Hellenic*kʷʰermós
- Ancient Greekθερμός (thermós)
- Englishthermo-
- Proto-Indo-European*dewh₂-
- Proto-Hellenic*dunamai
- Ancient Greekδῠ́νᾰμαι (dŭ́nămai)
- Ancient Greekδύναμις (dúnamis)
- Ancient Greekδυναμικός (dunamikós)
- Frenchdynamique
- Englishdynamic
- Englishthermodynamic
- Englishthermodynamicist
From thermodynamic + -ist.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
thermodynamicist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thermodynamicist
“thermodynamicist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thermodynamicist. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thermodynamicist,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thermodynamicist.
Source: thermodynamicist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.