bauxite

American  

[bawk-sahyt, boh-zahyt] / ˈbɔk saɪt, ˈboʊ zaɪt /

noun

1. a rock consisting of aluminum oxides and hydroxides with various impurities: the principal ore of aluminum.

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bauxite British  

/ ˈbɔːksaɪt /

noun

1. a white, red, yellow, or brown amorphous claylike substance comprising aluminium oxides and hydroxides, often with such impurities as iron oxides. It is the chief ore of aluminium. General formula: Al 2 O 3 . n H 2 O

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bauxite Scientific  

/ bôk′sīt′ /

1. A soft, whitish to reddish-brown rock consisting mainly of hydrous aluminum oxides and aluminum hydroxides along with silica, silt, iron hydroxides, and clay minerals. Bauxite forms from the breakdown of clays and is a major source of aluminum.

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Other Word Forms

• bauxitic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of bauxite

1860–65; named after Les Baux, near Arles in S France; see -ite ¹

Example Sentences

Smelters dissolve refined bauxite, or alumina, in a solution and jolt it with an electric current to chemically separate the aluminum from oxygen.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

This was a leader who rolled up his sleeves and stacked sandbags alongside firemen and volunteers, when toxic red sludge from a bauxite mine engulfed a Hungarian valley and threatened the Danube shore in 2010.

From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026

It mines bauxite, the raw material for aluminum, refines it into alumina powder, and operates smelters that turn alumina to finished aluminum.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

Apart from gold and diamonds, Venezuela boasts significant deposits of bauxite and coltan, a mineral that contains a metal used in mobile phones, laptops and other electronics.

From Barron's • Mar. 4, 2026

He has skills developed operating heavy machinery, laboring over a stew of molten bauxite at Kaiser Aluminum, once one of the best jobs in Spokane, Washington, a city of 200,000.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times