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Synonyms

potash

American  
[pot-ash] / ˈpɒtˌæʃ /

noun

  1. potassium carbonate, especially the crude impure form obtained from wood ashes.

  2. potassium hydroxide.

  3. the oxide of potassium, K 2 O.

  4. potassium, as carbonate of potash.

potash British  
/ ˈpɒtˌæʃ /

noun

  1. another name for potassium carbonate, esp the form obtained by leaching wood ash

  2. another name for potassium hydroxide

  3. potassium chemically combined in certain compounds

    chloride of potash
"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
potash Scientific  
/ pŏt′ăsh′ /

  1. Any of several chemical compounds that contain potassium, especially potassium carbonate (K 2 CO 3), which is a strongly alkaline material obtained from wood ashes and used in fertilizers.

Etymology

Origin of potash

1615–25; back formation from plural pot-ashes, translation of early Dutch potasschen. See pot 1, ash 1

Vocabulary lists containing potash

Eastern Europe - Middle School and High School

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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.

Potash, the potassium-rich component of fertilizers, has also been in short supply in recent years, in part because of economic sanctions on Belarus and Russia, which are major potash producers.

From Salon • Apr. 8, 2026

Shares of fertilizer maker CF Industries are up 35% this month, while CVR Partners has gained 36% and Intrepid Potash has gained 23%.

From Barron's • Mar. 29, 2026

Brazil Potash argues that producing fertilizer domestically could ease pressure on forests nationwide, since many farmers clear new land instead of reusing old fields simply because they lack the nutrients to restore soil fertility.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 5, 2025

Potash production is highly concentrated, with just twelve countries dominating the nearly £12 billion international market for potassium fertilisers, with Canada, Russia, Belarus and China producing 80% of the world's total raw potash.

From Science Daily • Feb. 19, 2024

He is able and ready to buy fertilizers, and does buy right and left, without knowing whether his land needs Lime, or Phosphate, or Potash, or something very different from either.

From What I know of farming: a series of brief and plain expositions of practical agriculture as an art based upon science by Greeley, Horace

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.