science exacte

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sjɑ̃.s‿ɛɡ.zakt/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

science exacte f (plural sciences exactes)

1. exact science, hard science, formal science

   Synonym: science dure

   Antonyms: science molle, science humaine

   • 1864, Rudolf Charles, Preface to Testament by Jean Meslier, page 9

     ...les systèmes philosophiques se développent et se succèdent sous l’influence des climats, des scènes de la nature, des conditions et des facultés des peuples qui les embrassent successivement; que la civilisation et l’étude des sciences exactes mûrissent et détruisent ces systèmes...

     ...systems of philosophy, develop and become replaced by others under the influence of certain climates, of scenes of nature, of the conditions and resources of the people who successively embrace them; that civilization and the study of the exact sciences mature and destroy these systems...

   • 1921, Marcel Proust, chapter 2, in Sodome et Gomorrhe [Sodom and Gomorrah] (À la recherche du temps perdu)‎^[1]:

     Échange de bons procédés: le village prit son nom, d’où actuellement Douville. Mais j’ajoute que la toponymie, où je suis d’ailleurs fort ignare, n’est pas une science exacte; si nous n’avions ce témoignage historique, Douville pourrait fort bien venir d’Ouville, c’est-à-dire: les Eaux.

     By an exchange of courtesies, the village took his name, whence we have Douville today. But I must add that toponymy, of which moreover I know little or nothing, is not an exact science; had we not this historical evidence, Douville might quite well come from Ouville, that is to say the Waters.

     translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff