classical mechanics

noun

plural in form but singular or plural in construction

physics

: a theory of matter that is based on Newtonian (see newtonian sense 2) mechanics and describes the behavior of particles in the absence of quantum effects compare quantum mechanics

Examples of classical mechanics in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And what must be true is that the full, exact theory of quantum cosmology should be able to reproduce this theoretical datum in an appropriate regime, just as quantum mechanics can reproduce the trajectory of a baseball (albeit in a much more complicated way than classical mechanics). —Edgar Shaghoulian, Scientific American, 1 Sep. 2022

And of course that observation was central to the formulation of Kepler’s laws, which together with Galileo’s study of pendula and falling bodies, all this led to the pinnacle of the scientific revolution: Newton’s formulation of classical mechanics and the laws of gravitation. —Quanta Magazine, 29 Feb. 2024

Modern mechanics The problems above came from an ambiguity in the concept of force in classical mechanics. —Larry M. Silverberg, Discover Magazine, 8 Dec. 2023

But for this piece of understanding, the key was a 350-year-old theorem of classical mechanics. —Jackie Appel, Popular Mechanics, 22 Aug. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined above