abiotic
Americanadjective
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Not associated with or derived from living organisms. Abiotic factors in an environment include such items as sunlight, temperature, wind patterns, and precipitation.
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Compare biotic
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of abiotic
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Explanation
In science, anything abiotic is not alive. Abiotic factors in an ecosystem are things like temperature, ocean currents, and humidity. Abiotic elements play an important role in the world, in a variety of ways. Everything that isn't living, and never was living, is considered abiotic—from the sand on the beach and boulders on a mountain to the sunlight from above and the mineral makeup of the soil beneath your feet. Abiotic comes from the prefix a-, "without," and biotic, "pertaining to life."
Vocabulary lists containing abiotic
Organisms and Environments 1: The Environment
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The ACT Science Test: Earth Science Review
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Bio
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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.
By analyzing samples through this statistical lens, the researchers could reliably distinguish biological samples from abiotic ones.
From Science Daily • May 12, 2026
“You need to look into all sorts of abiotic sources for interesting chemical compounds.”
From Science Magazine • Apr. 26, 2024
This new AI technique works by recognizing patterns across the composition of various samples and categorizing them as living or nonliving based on what it "knows" about patterns of biotic or abiotic objects.
From Salon • Sep. 26, 2023
Adds Dr. Cleaves: "From a chemical standpoint, the differences between biotic and abiotic samples relate to things like water solubility, molecular weights, volatility and so on."
From Science Daily • Sep. 25, 2023
Wind can be an important abiotic factor because it influences the rate of evaporation and transpiration.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015
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.
