alkali
Americannoun
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Chemistry.
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any of various bases, the hydroxides of the alkali metals and of ammonium, that neutralize acids to form salts and turn red litmus paper blue.
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any of various other more or less active bases, as calcium hydroxide.
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(not in technical use) an alkali metal.
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Obsolete. any of various other compounds, as the carbonates of sodium and potassium.
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Agriculture. a soluble mineral salt or a mixture of soluble salts, present in some soils, especially in arid regions, and detrimental to the growing of most crops.
adjective
noun
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chem a soluble base or a solution of a base
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a soluble mineral salt that occurs in arid soils and some natural waters
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Plants have difficulty growing in soil that is rich in alkalis.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of alkali
1300–50; Middle English alkaly < Middle French alcali < dialectal Arabic al-qalī, variant of Arabic qily saltwort ashes
Vocabulary lists containing alkali
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:
And he has seen them descend on Mono Lake when the water is teeming with brine shrimp and the larvae and pupae of alkali flies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2025
Another Los Angeles Times report on a roundup of immigrants begins by noting, “Human misery was compounded here today by a blistering desert sun and swirls of alkali dust.”
From Salon ● Sep. 21, 2024
Using the proposed method, larger alkali metal ions such as cesium could be incorporated into the perovskite structure, leading to ferroelectrics with desirable dielectric properties.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2024
The BBC's Mark Easton has been asking Commander Jon Savell about why it's taking time to find the alleged Clapham alkali attacker.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2024
The way to unlock the niacin in corn is to cook it with an alkali like lime.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
And to make such a transplant work, they wash out the body's liquid wastes, rebalance its acids and alkalies, lower its potassium�biochemical feats no less remarkable than all their surgery.
From Time Magazine Archive
Pots, pans, vats, machines exposed to corrosives will be protected by a skin of aluminum, metal highly resistant to mos.t acids and alkalies.
From Time Magazine Archive
Substances are classified for chemical purposes in groups, every member of which exhibits the same chemical property, and we shall require to distinguish between the group called acids and the group called alkalies.
From Household Administration Its Place in the Higher Education of Women by Various
Fourth—The oil must be free from acid, alkalies, animal or vegetable fillers, or other injurious agencies.
From Aviation Engines Design?Construction?Operation and Repair by Pag?, Victor Wilfred
Humic, hū′mik, adj. denoting an acid formed by the action of alkalies on humus or mould.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
In addition, the scientists substituted ammonium and tetramethyl ammonium, the former of which is mildly acidic, for the alkalis.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 12, 2024
Fermenting encompasses a range of processes through which microorganisms — yeasts, molds, bacteria — break down compounds in food to create alcohols, acids or alkalis, which in turn prevent the growth of harmful pathogens.
From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2023
Coal provided the power; the nascent chemical industry supplied the acids and alkalis essential to these enterprises.
From Nature ● Aug. 30, 2020
Alkalis were extracted from ashes, and soaps were prepared by combining these alkalis with fats.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019
Of course, if muriatic acid contains oxygen, the salts—muriates—produced by the action of this acid on alkalis and earths must also contain oxygen.
From Heroes of Science Chemists by Muir, M. M. Pattison (Matthew Moncrieff Pattison)
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.
