amalgam
an alloy of mercury with another metal or metals.
an alloy that consists chiefly of silver mixed with mercury and variable amounts of other metals and is used as a dental filling.
a rare mineral, an alloy of silver and mercury, occurring as silver-white crystals or grains.
a mixture or combination: His character is a strange amalgam of contradictory traits.
Origin of amalgam
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use amalgam in a sentence
Near his body is a cipher with the digits of the Fibonacci sequence and amalgams referring to Leonardo da Vinci and his Mona Lisa.
Gold unites with most of the metals, especially with mercury, and these mixtures are called amalgams.
It is in these subtle lyrical amalgams of humour and tenderness that the firm hand of the creator of character reveals itself.
Some Diversions of a Man of Letters | Edmund William GosseThese amalgams heated gradually to a bright red heat lose all their mercury, and hardly any gold.
The A B C of Mining | Charles A. BrambleThe mercurial alloys or amalgams are, perhaps, exceptions to this rule.
A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines | Andrew Ure
Some amalgams are solid, and not unfrequently crystalline; others are fluid.
British Dictionary definitions for amalgam
/ (əˈmælɡəm) /
an alloy of mercury with another metal, esp with silver: dental amalgam
a rare white metallic mineral that consists of silver and mercury and occurs in deposits of silver and cinnabar
a blend or combination
Origin of amalgam
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for amalgam
[ ə-măl′gəm ]
An alloy of mercury and another metal, especially:
An alloy of mercury and silver used in dental fillings.
An alloy of silver and tin used in silvering mirrors.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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