chemical
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Of or about a material or processes not commonly found in nature or in a particular product.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kehmuhkuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɛməkəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Relating to or used in chemistry
Of or relating to a material or processes not commonly found in nature or in a particular product.
noun
chemistrysciences
Any specific chemical element or chemical compound or alloy.
colloquial
An artificial chemical compound.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Relating to or used in chemistry
Used this way, chemical is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use chemical
- “This cleaning product contains a strong chemical that works well.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A scientist who specializes in chemistry.
A woman's sleeveless undergarment.
With chemicals.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Procedures involved in taking defensive measures against attacks using chemical agents.
Procedures involved in taking defensive measures against attacks using chemical agents.
A mild form of diabetes mellitus in which there are no overt symptoms but there are abnormal responses to some diagnostic procedures.
Any of the more than 100 known substances (of which 92 occur naturally) that cannot be separated into simpler substances and that singly or in combination constitute all matter.
That part of the energy in a substance that can be released by a chemical reaction.
The branch of engineering that is concerned with the design and construction and operation of the plants and machinery used in industrial chemical processes.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The use of chemical agents to treat or control disease (or mental illness).
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- biologicaladjective
- substratenoun
- synthesisnoun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.