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Definition of zinc
(Entry 1 of 2)
: a bluish-white metallic element that is ductile when pure but in the commercial form is brittle at ordinary temperatures and becomes ductile on slight heating, occurs abundantly in minerals, is an essential micronutrient for both plants and animals, and is used especially in alloys and as a protective coating in galvanizing iron and steel — see Chemical Elements Table
zinc
verb
zinced
or zincked\ ˈziŋ(k)t
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zincing
or zincking\ ˈziŋ-kiŋ
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zincing
or zincking\ ˈziŋ-kiŋ
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Definition of zinc (Entry 2 of 2)
: to treat or coat with zinc : galvanize
Examples of zinc in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
The resources that have been identified include zinc, gold, iron ore, uranium and various other metals. — Los Angeles Times, "Q&A: Trump wants to buy Greenland. How much is it worth anyway?," 23 Aug. 2019 As the ice sheet melts and recedes, there’s increasing access to the island’s stores of zinc, copper, iron, uranium and certain rare earth minerals, sparking increasing national discussions about the territory’s economic future. — Chelsea Harvey, Scientific American, "What Greenland Might Have Taught Trump about Warming," 19 Aug. 2019 These include nations like South Sudan, Angola, DR Congo, and the Republic of Congo, who are increasingly reliant on China for their petroleum, zinc, copper, and cobalt exports. — Abdi Latif Dahir, Quartz Africa, "Why these African countries are defending China’s mass detention of Muslims," 15 July 2019 Alex gets pulled out of the zinc, through the circuit and into the manganese oxide. — Robert Masse, The Conversation, "How do lithium-ion batteries work?," 15 July 2019 Engineers are testing prototypes in a plasma wind tunnel and reckon the winning design will contain a low-melting-point alloy of zinc. — The Economist, "No one has yet been killed by re-entering space junk," 10 Aug. 2019 As the planet becomes hotter and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere become more concentrated, the protein values in green crops, as well as the amount of micronutrients like zinc and iron, decline. — Patrick Sisson, Curbed, "To combat climate change, cities need to tackle sprawl," 8 Aug. 2019 The gold medals use more than 6 grams of gold plating on pure silver, the silver medals are made from pure silver, and the bronze medals use a red brass alloy made up of 95-percent copper and 5-percent zinc. — Sam Byford, The Verge, "Tokyo unveils 2020 Olympic medals harvested from old gadgets," 24 July 2019 Golf balls are covered in plastic, with rubber and resin cores that often contain petroleum byproducts, zinc and heavy metals. — Keith Matheny, Freep.com, "Plastics pollution? Course urged golfers to hit balls into Lake Michigan," 22 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'zinc.' 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 zinc
zinc
noun
English Language Learners Definition of zinc
: a bluish-white metal that is very common and is used especially to make brass and as a protective coating for things made of iron and steel
See the full definition for zinc in the English Language Learners Dictionary
zinc
noun
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Kids Definition of zinc
: a bluish white metal that tarnishes only slightly in moist air and is used mostly to make alloys and to give iron and steel a protective coating
zinc
noun
\ ˈziŋk
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Medical Definition of zinc
: a bluish white crystalline bivalent metallic element of low to intermediate hardness that is an essential micronutrient for both plants and animals
—symbol Zn
— see Chemical Elements Table
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