Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A vessel made of a refractory substance such as graphite or porcelain, used for melting and calcining materials at high temperatures.
- noun An extremely difficult experience or situation; a severe test or trial: synonym: trial.
- noun A place, time, or situation in which different social forces or intellectual influences come together and cause new developments.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A vessel or melting-pot for chemical purposes, made of pure clay or other material, as black-lead, porcelain, platinum, silver, or iron, and so baked or tempered as to endure extreme heat without fusing.
- noun A hollow place at the bottom of a chemical furnace, for collecting the molten metal.
- noun Figuratively, a severe or searching test: as, his probity was tried in the crucible of temptation.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A vessel or melting pot, composed of some very refractory substance, as clay, graphite, platinum, and used for melting and calcining substances which require a strong degree of heat, as metals, ores, etc.
- noun A hollow place at the bottom of a furnace, to receive the melted metal.
- noun A test of the most decisive kind; a severe trial.
- noun (Chem.) a cheap, brittle, and fragile, but very refractory crucible, composed of the finest fire clay and sand, and commonly used for a single heating; -- named from the place of manufacture.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun chemistry A cup-shaped piece of
laboratory equipment used to containchemical compounds when heating them to very hightemperatures . - noun A
heat-resistant container in whichmetals aremelted , usually at temperatures above 500°C, commonly made ofgraphite withclay as abinder . - noun The bottom and hottest part of a
blast furnace ; thehearth . - noun A very
difficult andtrying experience , that acts as arefining orhardening process .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a vessel made of material that does not melt easily; used for high temperature chemical reactions
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The scope of the crucible is always brought home to me by one single moment: The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff on January 30, 1945.
A conversation with bestselling author Chris Bohjalian about his novel, Skeletons at the Feast 2010
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In this crucible is formed the young Naipaul, who writes home from Oxford to Seepersad Naipaul, his beloved and writerly father and mentor, to say: I want to come top of my group.
Cruel and Unusual 2008
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Bollingen, which Jung considered his alchemical crucible, is dismissed by Giegerich as
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In this crucible is formed the young Naipaul, who writes home from Oxford to Seepersad Naipaul, his beloved and writerly father and mentor, to say: I want to come top of my group.
Cruel and Unusual 2008
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In this crucible is formed the young Naipaul, who writes home from Oxford to Seepersad Naipaul, his beloved and writerly father and mentor, to say: I want to come top of my group.
Cruel and Unusual 2008
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Indeed, cross-examination is often referred to as the crucible of the truth: Combine a defense attorney's direct examination with a forceful cross-examination, and therein a juror discovers the truth.
Is Skilling Hurting His Own Defense? Jeffrey Skilling's 'Big Enchilada' 2006
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And someone else's knowledge, I found, was never my own, for the crucible is the experience.
Nancy Chuda: To Invent Fire Nancy Chuda 2011
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And someone else's knowledge, I found, was never my own, for the crucible is the experience.
Nancy Chuda: To Invent Fire Nancy Chuda 2011
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There was the withdrawal of a tiny crucible from the white heat of the furnace, and the sliding back of the door, and then the crucible was a dazzling light fleck that danced through the blackness toward one of the workbenches.
"Power" by Harl Vincent, part 1 Johnny Pez 2010
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The town of Asuka, often described as the crucible of Japanese civilization, was a cosmopolitan melting pot in the seventh century.
The Ties That Bind 2008
evin290 commented on the word crucible
Whenever my chemistry teacher would use a crucible for heating things, he'd quip that it was invented by Arthur Miller.
That man is a genius! <3
June 29, 2008