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chemistry

nouncommon in dialogue

  • //ˈkɛm.ɪ.stɹi//

The branch of natural science that deals with the composition and constitution of substances and the changes that they undergo as a consequence of alterations in the constitution of their molecules.

noun

  1. 1

    The branch of natural science that deals with the composition and constitution of substances and the changes that they undergo as a consequence of alterations in the constitution of their molecules.

  2. 2

    An application of chemical theory and method to a particular substance.

    Learning the very complicated chemistries necessary to reproduce reality into a picture using light

    The aquatic chemistries of iron and manganese are similar; this “is reflected geologically in their common association in rocks of all kinds” (Bortleson and Lee, 1974).

  3. 3

    The chemical properties and reactions of a particular organism, environment etc.

    But some microbes manage to move to new organs to get inside tumors. It’s possible that the particular chemistry inside a tumor, such as its level of oxygen, helps determine which microbes will thrive there.

  4. 4

    informalThe mutual attraction between two people; rapport.

    The on-screen chemistry between the lead actors led many viewers to believe they were a couple in real life.

    The coach attributed their losses to poor team chemistry.

    He and [Dennis] Schröder developing pick-and-roll chemistry will certainly be an objective. [Markieff] Morris has a tendency to linger around the mid-range area after setting ball screens, but when he’s popping beyond the 3-point line, he can hurt defenses.

  5. 5

    informalA blood test to measure the amount of various components of the serum (such as electrolytes, creatinine, and glucose).

    Diagnosis is presumptive by history and physical examination and is confirmed by chemistries.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰew- Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Hellenic *-mə Ancient Greek -μᾰ (-mă) Ancient Greek χῠ́μᾰ (khŭ́mă) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ία (-ía) Ancient Greek χυμείᾱ (khumeíā)bor. Arabic الْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ)bor. Medieval Latin alchēmia ▲ Ancient Greek χυμείᾱ (khumeíā)influ. New Latin chimiabor. Middle French chymie French chimie Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istabor. French -iste French chimistebor. English chemist Middle English -re, -ri, -rie, -ry, -rye English -ry English chemistry First coined 1605, from chemist + -ry. From chemist, chymist, from Latin alchimista, from Arabic اَلْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ), from article اَل (al-) + Ancient Greek χυμεία (khumeía, “art of alloying metals”), from χύμα (khúma, “fluid”), from χυμός (khumós, “juice”), from χέω (khéō, “to pour”).

Forms

plural
chemistries
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).