ammonium

[ uh-moh-nee-uhm ]

/ əˈmoʊ ni əm /

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noun Chemistry.

the univalent ion, NH4+, or group, NH4, which plays the part of a metal in the salt formed when ammonia reacts with an acid.

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Origin of ammonium

<New Latin; see ammonia, -ium; coined by J. J. Berzelius in 1808

Words nearby ammonium

ammonify, ammonio-, ammonioferric oxalate, ammonite, Ammonites, ammonium, ammonium acetate, ammonium bicarbonate, ammonium bifluoride, ammonium binoxalate, ammonium carbamate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use ammonium in a sentence

Back in the lab, they’re testing whether applying heat and adding ammonium salts and certain weak acids can break down the bonds, freeing up more calcium and magnesium to grab hold of carbon dioxide.
Asbestos could be a powerful weapon against climate change (you read that right)|James Temple|October 6, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Nontraditional flavors ammonium nitrate, C-4, and gelignite did not test well.
Up to a Point: P.J. O’Rourke on Valentine’s Day and Oral Hygiene|P. J. O’Rourke|February 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Ammonium nitrate is extremely common, and pretty dangerous, and also extremely useful.
The Most Dangerous Substance in America May Be Fertilizer|Megan McArdle|April 19, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The sediment usually contains abundant amorphous phosphates and crystals of triple phosphate and ammonium urate.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd

For the last six years he has regularly taken the bromides of potassium and ammonium (one drachm and a half) daily.
A Statistical Inquiry Into the Nature and Treatment of Epilepsy|Alexander Hughes Bennett
For six years past she has taken regularly the bromides of potassium and ammonium, one drachm of each daily.
A Statistical Inquiry Into the Nature and Treatment of Epilepsy|Alexander Hughes Bennett
With ammonium picrate and sodium picrate, yellowish red color.
Some Constituents of the Poison Ivy Plant: (Rhus Toxicodendron)|William Anderson Syme
It should, therefore, show the chemical characteristics of a base much more decidedly than the ammonium hydroxide solution.
The Elements of Qualitative Chemical Analysis, vol. 1, parts 1 and 2.|Julius Stieglitz

British Dictionary definitions for ammonium

ammonium

/ (əˈməʊnɪəm, -njəm) /

noun

(modifier) of, consisting of, or containing the monovalent group NH 4 – or the ion NH 4 +ammonium compounds

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

Medical definitions for ammonium

ammonium

[ ə-mō′nē-əm ]

The univalent radical NH4+, that is derived from ammonia and that reacts as a univalent metal in forming ammonium compounds.

Scientific definitions for ammonium

ammonium

[ ə-mō′nē-əm ]

A positively charged ion, NH4, derived from ammonia and found in a wide variety of organic and inorganic compounds. Compounds of ammonium chemically resemble the alkali metals.