noun
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a shop selling medicines, cosmetics, etc
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a qualified dispenser of prescribed medicines
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a person studying, trained in, or engaged in chemistry
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an obsolete word for alchemist
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of chemist
First recorded in 1555–65; from Greek chēm(ía) (also chēmeía, chymeía ) “art of alloying metals; alchemy” + -ist; replacing chymist, from Medieval Latin alchimista; see alchemist ( def. )
Explanation
A scientist who studies the elements that make up all matter is a chemist. If you enjoy doing experiments that involve mixing substances in test tubes, you'd probably love being a chemist. Chemists practice the science of chemistry, which examines the properties that make up everything in the universe. These working scientists examine the tiniest particles of substances, the atoms and molecules that form the earth, the oceans, and even you, yourself. Chemists also study how elements interact with each other and form new substances; we have chemists to thank for inventing penicillin, plastic, and artificial sweeteners, among many other things.
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.
See Examples For:
Ramón Pagán, a cosmetic chemist and independent consultant based in New York City, sees another force helping drive tallow’s popularity: branding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Prior to arriving at the home David, a former industrial chemist who is originally from Bradford, lived in France for almost 20 years.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Meanwhile people without family abroad to send them dollars or order food for them online live an increasingly precarious existence, like Maritza Gomez, a 62-year-old chemist.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
That results in a small cooling effect for the planet, said Eloise Marais, an atmospheric chemist at University College London and one of the paper’s authors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
To the physicists, the separation and purification of radioisotopes seemed a black art; but it was well within the capabilities of a graduate chemist.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
So there was an overnight operation of chemists and first responders sent in to try to get that done, which was attempted even though it put them “in harm’s way,” Covey said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026
Past directors have included physicists, chemists and computer scientists.
From Salon ● May 7, 2026
In a double-blind study, 36 chemists provided 368 valid evaluations, and their assessments agreed with the system's results 71.2% of the time on average.
From Science Daily ● May 5, 2026
La Mer claims the secret powers of its bestselling products are unlocked in a lab where chemists brew–and DJ for–the ‘Miracle Broth.’
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
Using Avogadro’s mathematics, chemists were eventually able to work out, for instance, that a typical atom had a diameter of 0.00000008 centimeters, which is very little indeed.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
