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displacement Definition

dis·place·ment (dis plās′mənt, dis′-)

noun

  1. a displacing or being displaced
    1. the weight or volume of a fluid displaced by a floating object; specif., the weight of water, in long tons, displaced by a ship
    2. the volume displaced by a stroke of a piston
  3. the difference between a later position of a thing and its original position
  4. Geol. the relative movement of rock strata on the two sides of a fault
  5. Psychiatry a defense mechanism in which an emotion or idea, usually repressed, is transferred to another, more acceptable object
displacement Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • ton: The 144 meter ships are designed for a crew of 200 and have a displacement of 6,048 tons.
  • ton: Over 800 ft long and with a displacement of 53,000 tons the Titanic was the largest and most opulent liner ever built.
  • atom: To reduce the expense the program uses translational invariance and symmetry to make as few displacements of the atoms as possible.
  • hundred: The government's ethnic cleansing program resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Adjective modifier

  • forcible: Government soldiers have also been responsible for the deaths of innocent civilians and forcible displacement.
  • forced: Curfews, restricted movement and forced displacement are now commonplace.
  • angular: The link lengths and the crank angular displacement are varied.
  • lateral: However, adjustment may be achieved either by lateral displacement of the front sight or by shimming the base of the tang sight.
  • anterior: When shear force is decreased this leads to a decrease in anterior tibial displacement.
  • vertical: A small weight is hung on the free end and the vertical displacement, d, measured.

Modifies a noun

  • transducer: Figure 4. Typical plot of load versus displacement transducer output for the butt-joint test.
  • ventilation: The vertical service columns are yellow, and white perforated steel wall panels protect the filters for a displacement ventilation system.
  • amplitude: The locations on the board at which zero vibration displacement occurs are called nodes, and the maximum displacement amplitudes occur at the antinodes.
  • vector: The work done is the product of the Force vector and the displacement vector.
  • pump: Whether you need a centrifugal or positive displacement pump - a water pump or a pump for treacle - contact the experts Central Pumps.
  • parameter: All non-hydrogen atoms are assumed to have isotropic atomic displacement parameters ( U iso ) of 0.05 Å 2.

Noun used with modifier

  • ton: She was 26 feet long, 30 feet beam, 17.3 draft and 2,000 tons displacement.
  • ton: At 75 m length and 750 tons displacement, she is almost 60 % longer and 2.6 times heavier than the next largest sloop.
  • probe: Probe displacement is plotted against time for two tests.
  • population: Population displacement drives up HIV infection in a number of ways.
displacement Quotes

If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat.

—Angelou, Maya originally MayaJohnson