Word of the Day
: December 30, 2015wormhole
playWhat It Means
1 : a hole or passage burrowed by a worm
2 : a hypothetical structure of space-time envisioned as a long thin tunnel connecting points that are separated in space and time
wormhole in Context
Some science fiction writers speculate that wormholes will become the intergalactic highways of the future.
"Sci-fi fans who hope humanity can one day zoom to distant corners of the universe via wormholes, as astronauts do in the recent film 'Interstellar,' shouldn't hold their breath." — Mike Wall, Space.com, 24 Nov. 2014
Did You Know?
If you associate wormhole with quantum physics and sci-fi, you'll probably be surprised to learn that the word has been around since Shakespeare's day—although, admittedly, he used it more literally than most modern writers. To Shakespeare, a wormhole was simply a hole made by a worm, a more down-to-earth sense which is still used today. But even the Bard subtly linked wormholes to the passage of time; for example, in The Rape of Lucrece, he notes time's destructive power "to fill with worm-holes stately monuments." To modern astrophysicists, a wormhole isn't a tunnel wrought by a slimy invertebrate but a theoretical tunnel between two black holes or other points in space-time, providing a shortcut between its end points.
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Test Your Vocabulary
What word beginning with "h" is the name for a fictional space where extraordinary events, such as traveling faster than the speed of light, are believed to happen?
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