inorganic
adjective
Simple meaning
Relating or belonging to the class of compounds not having a carbon basis.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnawrganikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnɔɹˈɡænɪk
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
chemistry
Relating or belonging to the class of compounds not having a carbon basis
“Hydrochloric and sulfuric acids are called inorganic substances.”
chemistry
Relating to a compound that does not contain carbon.
That does not originate in a living organism.
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Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Relating or belonging to the class of compounds not having a carbon basis
Used this way, inorganic 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.
“Hydrochloric and sulfuric acids are called inorganic substances.”
- 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 inorganic
- “Hydrochloric and sulfuric acids are called inorganic substances.”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.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The chemistry of compounds that do not contain hydrocarbon radicals.
Any compound that does not contain carbon.
A salt of phosphoric acid.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: relating
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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.