Synonyms

base metal

American

noun

any metal other than a precious or noble metal, as copper, lead, zinc, or tin.
the principal metal of an alloy.
the principal metal of a piece underlying a coating of another metal; core.

base metal British

noun

any of certain common metals such as copper, lead, zinc, and tin, as distinct from the precious metals, gold, silver, and platinum

"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

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.

However, judge Lord Sandison rejected the claims, describing the way Biffa interpreted the letter as "wishful thinking" on a par with trying to turn "base metal into gold".

From BBC • Jan. 16, 2026

You can call cobalt a base metal, or stick it with uranium in special metals.

From Barron's • Dec. 26, 2025

Pairing these metal oxides with a conductive carbon network improves electron movement and prevents the particles from clumping together, which is a frequent issue in conventional base metal catalysts.

From Science Daily • Dec. 11, 2025

A proposed $53 billion merger between Anglo American and Teck Resources, the mining sector’s biggest deal for a decade, amounts to a giant play on future demand for the base metal.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 10, 2025

He believes that it is possible to turn base metal into gold, although he doubts that anyone knows how to do it.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023