allotropy

or al·lot·ro·pism

[ uh-lo-truh-pee ]

nounChemistry.
  1. a property of certain elements, as carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus, of existing in two or more distinct forms; allomorphism.

Origin of allotropy

1
First recorded in 1840–50; allo- + -tropy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use allotropy in a sentence

  • Perhaps they have not studied the mystery of allotropism in the emotions of the human heart.

    Elsie Venner | Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
  • In what will these wonderful developments of allotropism end?

  • It is easy to call these changes by the name allotropism, but not the less do they confound our hasty generalizations.

    Medical Essays | Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
  • These facts of allotropism have some corollaries connected with them rather startling to us of the nineteenth century.

    Medical Essays | Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

British Dictionary definitions for allotropy

allotropy

allotropism

/ (əˈlɒtrəpɪ) /


noun
  1. the existence of an element in two or more physical forms. The most common elements having this property are carbon, sulphur, and phosphorus

Derived forms of allotropy

  • allotropic (ˌæləˈtrɒpɪk), adjective
  • allotropically, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012