Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Involving neither organic life nor the products of organic life.
- adjective Not composed of organic matter.
- adjective Chemistry Of or relating to compounds not containing hydrocarbon groups or derivatives.
- adjective Not arising in normal growth; artificial.
- adjective Lacking system or structure.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not organic; not organized; specifically, not having that organization which characterizes living bodies. See
organic and organism. - Not produced by vital processes: as, an inorganic compound.
- In philology, of unintended or accidental origin; not normally developed: as, the distinctions of lead and led, of man and men, of was and were, which are of phonetic origin; or the i of Fr. vient (Latin venit), as compared with that of mais (Latin magis).
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Not organic; without the organs necessary for life; devoid of an organized structure; unorganized; lifeness; inanimate.
- adjective (Chem.) Of or pertaining to compounds that are not derivatives of hydrocarbons; not organic{5}.
- adjective See under
Chemistry .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective chemistry relating to a
compound that does not containcarbon - adjective by extension that does not originate in a
living organism - noun chemistry An
inorganic compound
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective lacking the properties characteristic of living organisms
- adjective relating or belonging to the class of compounds not having a carbon basis
Etymologies
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Examples
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Were not man's origin implicated, we should accept without a murmur the derivation of animal and vegetable life from what we call inorganic nature.
Fragments of science, V. 1-2 John Tyndall 1856
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Incipient life, as it were, manifests itself throughout the whole of what we call inorganic nature.
Fragments of science, V. 1-2 John Tyndall 1856
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He published over 200 papers, particularly in inorganic biochemistry and bioenergetics.
CV - Bo Malmström 2010
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Atomic Energy Commission, partly because of his 1951 Nobel Prize for work in inorganic chemistry.
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Hevesy from Stockholm received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers, involving studies in inorganic chemistry and geochemistry as well as on the metabolism in living organisms.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The Development of Modern Chemistry 2010
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Much of the progress in inorganic chemistry during the 20th century has been associated with investigations of coordination compounds, i.e., a central metal ion surrounded by a number of coordinating groups, called ligands.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The Development of Modern Chemistry 2010
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Progress slowed during the second of half of the 19th century, although critical advances in inorganic and organic chemistry helped to usher in a new era for physiological chemistry.
Otto Meyerhof and the Physiology Institute: the Birth of Modern Biochemistry 2010
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Another early prize for work in inorganic chemistry was that to Fritz
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The Development of Modern Chemistry 2010
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Beauty in nature, both organic and inorganic, is a difficult metaphysical principle to deny.
Bradley Monton 2008
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Awni is a scientist with a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the University of Florida at Gainesville.
The Checkpoint 2006
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