Word.ws English Dictionary

Schrödinger's cat

/ˌʃɹəʊdɪŋəz ˈkæt/US/ˌʃɹoʊdɪŋɚz ˈkæt/

Schrödinger's cat noun: a hypothetical cat that is depicted as being surrounded by perfectly uncertain circumstances that make an external observer absolutely unable to deem the cat either alive or dead, especially if the possibilities of survival of the cat are expected to be analysed from the point of view of quantum mechanics. Typically, these circumstances involve the cat being inside a box while being the victim of a danger that may or may not kill it, such as radiation.

schrödinger's cat: a hypothetical cat that is depicted as being surrounded by perfectly uncertain circumstances that...
Image: Dhatfield, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

Schrödinger's cat (plural Schrödinger's cats)

  1. A hypothetical cat that is depicted as being surrounded by perfectly uncertain circumstances that make an external observer absolutely unable to deem the cat either alive or dead, especially if the possibilities of survival of the cat are expected to be analysed from the point of view of quantum mechanics. Typically, these circumstances involve the cat being inside a box while being the victim of a danger that may or may not kill it, such as radiation.
    • A cat like yours is a Schrödinger's cat, sealed up in an office where someone's disintegration provides a 50-50 chance of its death.2000, Thalia Field, Point and line, New Directions Publishing, →ISBN, page 8
  2. (broadly) Any hypothetical situation whose circumstances make it impossible to see which among two contrary propositions is correct, especially if the situation is expected to be analysed from the point of view of quantum mechanics.
    • To see how, let us consider a nested system of Schrödinger's cats.2004, Colin Bruce, Schrödinger's Rabbits: The Many Worlds of Quantum, page 83

Proper noun

Schrödinger's cat

  1. The thought experiment which was devised by Erwin Schrödinger, is usually considered a paradox, involves a Schrödinger's cat and is typically supposed to be analysed from the point of view of quantum mechanics.
  2. A Schrödinger's cat (a hypothetical cat that may or may not be dead) in particular, especially when implied to be the only Schrödinger's cat in the world.
    • Schrödinger's cat is necessarily alive or dead.2005, Jürgen Pafel, Quantifier scope in German, illustrated edition, John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 21
    • And you thought Schrödinger's cat was schizophrenic, unsure about life and death.2009, João Magueijo, A brilliant darkness, Basic Books, →ISBN, page 179

Schrödinger's cat meaning in Tagalog, Arabic, Persian and Vietnamese

Schrödinger's cat in Tagalog

thought experiment
pusa ni Schrödinger

Schrödinger's cat in Arabic

thought experiment
قِطَّة شْرُودِنْغِر

Schrödinger's cat in Persian

thought experiment
گربه شرودینگر

Schrödinger's cat in Vietnamese

thought experiment
con mèo của Schrödinger

Forms of Schrödinger's cat

pluralSchrödinger's cats
alternative formSchrödinger cat
alternative formSchrodinger's cat
alternative formSchrodinger cat
alternative formSchroedinger's cat
alternative formSchroedinger cat

Origin of Schrödinger's cat

Named after Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961).

Words formed from Schrödinger's cat

Questions about Schrödinger's cat

What does Schrödinger's cat mean?
Schrödinger's cat means a hypothetical cat that is depicted as being surrounded by perfectly uncertain circumstances that make an external observer absolutely unable to deem the cat either alive or dead, especially if the possibilities of survival of the cat are expected to be analysed from the point of view of quantum mechanics. Typically, these circumstances involve the cat being inside a box while being the victim of a danger that may or may not kill it, such as radiation.
What is Schrödinger's cat in Tagalog?
Schrödinger's cat in Tagalog is pusa ni Schrödinger. See Schrödinger's cat meaning in Tagalog.
What part of speech is Schrödinger's cat?
Schrödinger's cat can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Schrödinger's cat?
Schrödinger's cat is pronounced /ˌʃɹəʊdɪŋəz ˈkæt/ (UK).
What is the plural of Schrödinger's cat?
The plural of Schrödinger's cat is Schrödinger's cats.

Words near Schrödinger's cat in the dictionary

  1. Schrödinger kitten
  2. Schrödinger kittens
  3. Schrödinger wave function
  4. Schrödinger wave functions
  5. Schrödinger's
  6. Schrödinger's cat
  7. Schrödinger's cats
  8. Schrödinger's douchebag
  9. Schrödinger's douchebags
  10. Schrödinger's equation
  11. Schrödinger's equations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Schrödinger's cat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Schrödinger's cat.wav.

Cite this entry: “Schrödinger's cat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.