Adjacent Words

silicate definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a salt or ester derived from silicic acid

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: silicic (acid) Date: 1811 a salt or ester derived from a silicic acid; especially any of numerous insoluble often complex metal salts that contain silicon and oxygen in the anion, constitute the largest class of minerals, and are used in building materials (as cement, bricks, and glass)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. any of the many insoluble compounds of a metal combined with silicon and oxygen, occurring widely in the rocks of the earth's crust.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Silicate Sil"i*cate, n.[Cf. F. silicate.] (Chem.) A salt of silicic acid. Note: In mineralogical chemistry the silicates include; the unisilicates or orthosilicates, salts of orthosilicic acid; the bisilicates or metasilicates, salts of metasilicic acid; the polysilicates or acid silicates, salts of the polysilicic acids; the basic silicates or subsilicates, in which the equivalent of base is greater than would be required to neutralize the acid; and the hydrous silicates, including the zeolites and many hydrated decomposition products.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(silicates) A silicate is a compound of silica which does not dissolve. There are many different kinds of silicate. ...large amounts of aluminum silicate. N-MASS