rare earth
nounDefinition of rare earth
1
: any of a group of similar oxides of metals or a mixture of such oxides occurring together in widely distributed but relatively scarce minerals
Examples of rare earth in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Russia wants to tap into that zone, which is estimated to have about 13 percent of the world's oil, 30 percent of the world's natural gas, and other rare earth minerals. — Courtney Linder, Popular Mechanics, "Russia is Sailing a 'Floating Chernobyl' Into the Arctic," 26 Aug. 2019 Greenland is thought to have the largest deposits outside China of rare earth minerals used to make batteries and cellphones. — David Rising, BostonGlobe.com, "World powers increasingly see icy Arctic as a hot property," 22 Aug. 2019 Another idea uses an electric field to change the polarization of a material—a rare earth metal—to warm and cool. — Chase Purdy, Quartz, "India is the epicenter of rethinking air conditioning," 26 July 2019 One concept plays with the idea of ditching coolants and using rare earth materials and magnetic fields to generate heat and cold air. — Chase Purdy, Quartz, "India is the epicenter of rethinking air conditioning," 26 July 2019 China also hinted at cutting off the supply of rare earth materials used in a variety of processes and goods. — David Lazarus, latimes.com, "California Inc.: Cattle industry finds new way to make mooolah," 3 June 2019 Valuable iron and rare earth minerals could be waiting, too. — Mark Fischetti, Scientific American, "Nations Claim Large Overlapping Sections of Arctic Seafloor," 23 July 2019 The Chinese government retaliated with tariffs on $60 billion of US exports and have been increasing scrutiny of exports of rare earths to US companies. — Ben Westcott, CNN, "Trump to meet Xi at G20 amid raging trade war. He says the Chinese leader is a 'terrific guy'," 18 June 2019 Chinese state media hinted last month that the country’s supply of rare earths — exotic minerals used in electric cars, mobile phones and other technology — may be used as a trade weapon. — Washington Post, "China’s trade rep says ‘external pressures’ can help economy," 13 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rare earth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for rare earth
rare earth
noun
\ ˌrer-ˈərth
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Medical Definition of rare earth
1
: any of a group of similar oxides of metals or a mixture of such oxides occurring together in widely distributed but relatively scarce minerals