Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to energy or to objects in motion.
  • adjective Of or relating to the study of dynamics.
  • adjective Characterized by continuous change, activity, or progress.
  • adjective Characterized by much activity and vigor, especially in bringing about change; energetic and forceful. synonym: active.
  • adjective Of or relating to variation of intensity, as in musical sound.
  • noun An interactive system or process, especially one involving competing or conflicting forces.
  • noun A force, especially political, social, or psychological.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Sthenic; functional, not organic: as, a dynamic disease.
  • In botany, capable of strongly swelling on one side: applied to tissue.
  • Pertaining to mechanical forces not in equilibrium: opposed to static.
  • Pertaining to mechanical forces, whether in equilibrium or not; involving the consideration of forces. By extension
  • Causal; effective; motive; involving motion or change: often used vaguely.
  • In the Kantian philosophy, relating to the reason of existence of an object of experience.
  • The doctrine that some other original principle besides matter must be supposed to account for the phenomena of the universe
  • noun A moral force; an efficient incentive.
  • noun The science which teaches how to calculate motions in accordance with the laws of force: same as dynamics.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to dynamics; belonging to energy or power; characterized by energy or production of force.
  • adjective Relating to physical forces, effects, or laws.
  • adjective See under Electricity.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Changing; active; in motion.
  • adjective Powerful; energetic.
  • adjective Able to change and to adapt
  • adjective music Having to do with the volume of sound.
  • adjective computing happening at runtime instead of at compile time or predetermined
  • adjective Pertaining to dynamics—the branch of mechanics concerned with the effects of forces on the motion of objects.
  • noun A characteristic or manner of an interaction; a behavior.
  • noun music The varying loudness or volume of a song or the markings that indicate the loudness.
  • noun music A symbol in a musical score that indicates the desired level of volume.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an efficient incentive
  • adjective characterized by action or forcefulness or force of personality
  • adjective (used of verbs (e.g. `to run') and participial adjectives (e.g. `running' in `running water')) expressing action rather than a state of being
  • adjective of or relating to dynamics

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French dynamique, from Greek dunamikos, powerful, from dunamis, power, from dunasthai, to be able; see deu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French dynamique, from Ancient Greek δυναμικός (dunamikos, "powerful"), from δύναμις (dunamis, "power"), from δύναμαι (dunamai, "I am able").

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