catalysis
Americannoun
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Chemistry. the causing or accelerating of a chemical change by the addition of a catalyst.
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an action between two or more persons or forces, initiated by an agent that itself remains unaffected by the action.
social catalyses occasioned by controversial writings.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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self-catalysisnoun
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anticatalyticadjective
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catalyticadjective
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catalyticaladjective
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noncatalyticadjective
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semicatalyticadjective
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anticatalyticallyadverb
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catalyticallyadverb
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noncatalyticallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of catalysis
First recorded in 1645–55; from New Latin, from Greek katálȳsis “dissolution,” equivalent to katalȳ́ein “to dissolve” ( kata- cata- + lȳ́ein “to loosen”) + -sis -sis
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The new catalyst outperformed the long-standing Au/MgCuCr2O4 benchmark, and the results were reported in the Chinese Journal of Catalysis.
From Science Daily • Dec. 29, 2025
"The foundation for new catalytic technologies for industry has always been fundamental basic research," says Paul Dauenhauer, Distinguished Professor and director of the Center for Programmable Energy Catalysis at the University of Minnesota.
From Science Daily • Nov. 21, 2025
The study, "Electrides with Tunable Electron Delocalization for Applications in Quantum Computing and Catalysis," was also coauthored by graduate students Andrei Evdokimov and Valentina Nesterova.
From Science Daily • Oct. 16, 2025
Daniel Lundberg PhD '24 and MIT postdoc Jimin Kim are the lead authors of the study, which appears in Nature Catalysis.
From Science Daily • Dec. 4, 2024
Medicines must act either by combination with the affected part, or by Catalysis, changing the molecular action of the living tissues.
From An Epitome of the Homeopathic Healing Art Containing the New Discoveries and Improvements to the Present Time by Hill, B. L. (Benjamin L.)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
