carbonate

[kahr-buh-neyt, -nit, kahr-buh-neyt]

noun

1. a salt or ester of carbonic acid.

verb (used with object)

carbonated, carbonating 

1. to form into a carbonate.

2. to charge or impregnate with carbon dioxide.

   carbonated drinks.

3. to make sprightly; enliven.

carbonate

noun

1. a salt or ester of carbonic acid. Carbonate salts contain the divalent ion CO 3 ^2–

verb

1. to form or turn into a carbonate

2. (tr) to treat with carbon dioxide or carbonic acid, as in the manufacture of soft drinks

carbonate

1. A salt or ester of carbonic acid, containing the group CO ₃. The reaction of carbonic acid with a metal results in a salt (such as sodium carbonate), and the reaction of carbonic acid with an organic compound results in an ester (such as diethyl carbonate).

2. Any other compound containing the group CO ₃. Carbonates include minerals such as calcite and aragonite.

3. Sediment or a sedimentary rock formed by the precipitation of organic or inorganic carbon from an aqueous solution of carbonates of calcium, magnesium, or iron. Limestone is a carbonate rock.

1. To add carbon dioxide to a substance, such as a beverage.

Other Word Forms

• carbonator noun
• noncarbonate noun
• noncarbonated adjective
• semicarbonate adjective
• uncarbonated adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of carbonate¹

1785–95; carbon(ic acid) + -ate ², later taken as -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of carbonate¹

C18: from French, from carbone _carbon

Example Sentences

In a report, BMI says it now expects average 2025 prices for Chinese lithium carbonate at $10,100/metric ton and for Chinese lithium hydroxide at $9,700/ton, both higher than previously envisaged.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Only calcium carbonate and alpha alumina are abundant enough to be feasible at scale, yet both face serious technical problems during dispersion.

Read more on Science Daily

These single-celled algae, which contain chlorophyll, float in the sunlit layers of the sea and are coated with calcium carbonate plates known as coccoliths.

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Over decades, Los Angeles’ reliance on water from nearby creeks lowered the lake level and left exposed its craggy tufa towers, formations of calcium carbonate that grew underwater around springs.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Garrett stops to describe how the towers of calcium carbonate grew underwater around freshwater springs over thousands of years, then were left exposed as the water dropped.

Read more on Los Angeles Times