base metal
Americannoun
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any metal other than a precious or noble metal, as copper, lead, zinc, or tin.
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the principal metal of an alloy.
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the principal metal of a piece underlying a coating of another metal; core.
noun
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.
Aluminum remains MS’s preferred base metal owing to production losses in the Middle East.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
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
The queen dubbed it “the Chrysopoesium”—from chrysopoeia, the transmutation of base metal into gold—and she wore her necklace of his hair when she came to present it to him.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
