metastability

met·a·sta·ble

M0249200 (mĕt′ə-stā′bəl)adj. Of, relating to, or being an unstable but relatively long-lived state of a chemical or physical system, as of a supersaturated solution or an excited atom.

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met′a·sta·bil′i·ty (-stə-bĭl′ĭ-tē) n.

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Noun

1.

metastability - the quality of a physical system that persists in its existing equilibrium when undisturbed (or only slightly disturbed) but able to pass to a more stable equilibrium when sufficiently disturbedconstancy, stability - the quality of being enduring and free from change or variation; "early mariners relied on the constancy of the trade winds"natural philosophy, physics - the science of matter and energy and their interactions; "his favorite subject was physics"

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