nickel
Americannoun
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Chemistry. a hard, silvery-white, ductile and malleable metallic element, allied to iron and cobalt, not readily oxidized: used chiefly in alloys, in electroplating, and as a catalyst in organic synthesis. Ni; 58.71; 28; 8.9 at 20°C.
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a cupronickel coin of the U.S., the 20th part of a dollar, equal to five cents.
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a nickel coin of Canada, the 20th part of a dollar, equal to five cents.
verb (used with object)
adjective
noun
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a malleable ductile silvery-white metallic element that is strong and corrosion-resistant, occurring principally in pentlandite and niccolite: used in alloys, esp in toughening steel, in electroplating, and as a catalyst in organic synthesis. Symbol: Ni; atomic no: 28; atomic wt: 58.6934; valency: 0, 1, 2, or 3; relative density: 8.902; melting pt: 1455°C; boiling pt: 2914°C
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a US and Canadian coin and monetary unit worth five cents
verb
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A silvery, hard, ductile metallic element that occurs in ores along with iron or magnesium. It resists oxidation and corrosion and is used to make alloys such as stainless steel. It is also used as a coating for other metals. Atomic number 28; atomic weight 58.69; melting point 1,453°C; boiling point 2,732°C; specific gravity 8.902; valence 0, 1, 2, 3.
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See Periodic Table
Usage
What else does nickel mean? Nickel is a slang term for "five" of anything, especially a small bag of drugs costing five dollars or five-year prison sentence.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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nickelsimple
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nickelssimple
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have nickeledperfect
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have nickelledperfect
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has nickeledperfect
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has nickelledperfect
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am nickelingprogressive
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am nickellingprogressive
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are nickelingprogressive
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are nickellingprogressive
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is nickelingprogressive
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is nickellingprogressive
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have been nickelingperfect progressive
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have been nickellingperfect progressive
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has been nickelingperfect progressive
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has been nickellingperfect progressive
Past
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nickeledsimple
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nickelledsimple
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had nickeledperfect
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had nickelledperfect
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was nickelingprogressive
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was nickellingprogressive
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were nickelingprogressive
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were nickellingprogressive
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had been nickelingperfect progressive
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had been nickellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of nickel
1745–55; < Swedish, abstracted from kopparnickel < German Kupfernickel niccolite, literally, copper demon (so called because though looking like copper it yielded none); Nickel demon, special use of short form of Nikolaus proper name. Cf. Old Nick, pumpernickel
Explanation
A nickel is a five-cent coin that got its name from the metal. Nickel is a silver-colored metal that’s strong and resistant to corrosion, so it’s often blended with other metals. Even the coin is part copper. For most people, a nickel means five cents. The coin is mostly copper, but about 25 percent of it is actually nickel. The word comes from the German Kupfernickel, for “copper demon” because miners were tricked as they first thought the nickel was copper. The original US five cent coins were made of silver, and were known as "half dimes." During the Civil War, new coins began to be minted using less expensive materials — thus, the nickel was born.
Vocabulary lists containing nickel
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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.
See Examples For:
Scientists from the Institut de Physique du Globe and Université de Paris carried out highly precise nickel isotope measurements on samples gathered over many years.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
But they shouldn’t contribute another nickel beyond that.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026
You could presumably use the fortune teller thing from “The Twilight Zone,” where you put a nickel in and a little slip of paper comes out.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
And so it is fitting that its image has been on the nickel since 1938, the only private house to dignify a standard item of American currency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
“Why, Beans. Your little brother’s hungry. I bet a nickel would buy a nice lunch.”
From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm
The chain bundled food with items like character buttons, wooden nickels, hand puppets and drinking glasses.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
Going from a bulky commercial hydrogen sensor to a smart device about the size of a stack of three nickels was a technical challenge like that of any consumer-health wearable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
He also thinks the government savings from not producing pennies will be offset by the need for more nickels, which are worth five cents but cost nearly 14 cents to make.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2025
“We don’t take those wooden nickels anymore,” he said.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2025
No more nickels for Teapot to go to Dick’s for a breakfast of Mr. Goodbars and soda pop: no more long hours of him alone or wandering the roads while she was otherwise engaged.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
“It’s the fastest way to degrade your loyalty and satisfaction among the people who are traveling with you, because they feel like they’re being nickeled and dimed,” Taylor told me.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
Marina thought there was inadequate medical oversight, and said the program "nickeled and dimed" her for additional services, like physicians' visits, that she thought would be included.
From Salon ● Feb. 1, 2023
“I can’t think of a worse business – high fixed costs, commodity product, worsening service, alienated customers sick of being nickeled and dimed for every amenity.”
From Reuters ● Sep. 9, 2022
“It does seem people feel they are being nickeled and dimed on paperwork,” Mr. Brown said.
From New York Times ● Nov. 13, 2017
Japanned or nickeled plates, which, when placed next to leather bindings under heavy pressure give them a finish.
From Library Bookbinding by Bailey, Arthur Low
We sat on high stools at the bar while the barman shook the Martinis in a large nickelled shaker.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
It was the bright nickelled handle-bar which had caught his eye.
From The Wolf Patrol A Tale of Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts by Finnemore, John
Pressing plates, plates of metal japanned or nickelled, used for giving finish to the leather on a book.
From Bookbinding, and the Care of Books A handbook for Amateurs, Bookbinders & Librarians by Rooke, Noel
In the pocket of a hanging coat was thrust a nickelled rod from a patent trousers-stretcher, so that it pointed out into the room.
From The Sins of Séverac Bablon by Rohmer, Sax
Amber entered, his eyes quick, his right hand in his pocket and grateful for the cold caress of nickelled steel, his body poised lightly and tensely upon the balls of his feet—in a word, ready.
From The Bronze Bell by Vance, Louis Joseph
“Sometimes it feels like the college is nickeling and diming you,” Kantrowitz said.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 25, 2016
One shining in the freshness of new nickelling; the other an old thing of battered tin, with faded gold letters.
From A Top-Floor Idyl by Van Schaick, George
Commercial practice in the matter of the composition of nickelling solutions appears to vary a good deal.
From On Laboratory Arts by Threlfall, Richard
The treatment in hot baths of alkali and cyanide is the method generally employed in American factories as a preliminary to the nickelling of small brass work for sewing machines, etc.
From On Laboratory Arts by Threlfall, Richard
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.
