linac vs particle accelerator

linac and particle accelerator both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
linac	Yes	No	No	No
particle accelerator	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, particle accelerator is a hypernym of linac; that is, particle accelerator is a word with a broader meaning than linac:

linac: ions are accelerated along a linear path by voltage differences on electrodes along the path
particle accelerator: a scientific instrument that increases the kinetic energy of charged particles

Other hypernyms of linac include accelerator, atom smasher.

linac (noun)	particle accelerator (noun)
ions are accelerated along a linear path by voltage differences on electrodes along the path	a scientific instrument that increases the kinetic energy of charged particles