phosphate
Americannoun
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phosphates
plural
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Chemistry.
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(loosely) a salt or ester of phosphoric acid.
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a tertiary salt of orthophosphoric acid, as sodium phosphate.
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Agriculture. a fertilizing material containing compounds of phosphorus.
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a carbonated drink of water and fruit syrup containing a little phosphoric acid.
noun
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any salt or ester of any phosphoric acid, esp a salt of orthophosphoric acid
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(often plural) any of several chemical fertilizers containing phosphorous compounds
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of phosphate
Vocabulary lists containing phosphate
Pacific Islands - Introductory
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Pacific Islands - Middle School and High School
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Spelling Practice 2, Unit 3
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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:
Blooms occur naturally but are more frequent during warm, dry weather and are exacerbated by nutrients from phosphate in pollutants such as sewage.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
The biggest individual problem is phosphate - a nutrient from sewage and farm runoff - with around half of rivers still exceeding safe levels.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
So Hormuz blocks commodity exports, Yuntianhua buys fertilizer inputs at a premium, then Beijing reduces global supply by restricting phosphate exports — and fertilizer prices go up.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026
The material draws calcium and phosphate ions from saliva and uses them to guide the controlled formation of new mineral crystals.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
At first, they tried to salvage the essence of their first model, placing the phosphate backbone in the middle, and the bases projecting out to the sides.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Excess levels of phosphates led the Somerset Levels and Moors to be officially designated as having "unfavourable declining" status in 2021.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
Other relief being sought includes dropping long-standing duties on countries that export fertilizer products to the U.S., such as Morocco, a supplier of phosphates.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 2026
The Middle East fighting has choked off big chunks of the world’s supply of ammonia, urea, sulfur and phosphates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
The territory is rich in phosphates and home to lucrative fishing grounds.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
All our speculations about whether divalent ions held the chains together would have made no sense if there were hydrogen atoms firmly bound to the phosphates.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
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.
