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
- nonchemist noun
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; alchemist ( def. )
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.
Paul Tchinnis remembers thinking when he started there as a chemist.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026
Even as a chemist, it wasn't until she started working for a large paint company that she realised that paint is often bound with plastic.
From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026
In the early 1920s, inventor and electrical engineer Lee de Forest collaborated with chemist Theodore Case to create the first sound-on-film system, PhonoFilm.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 14, 2026
Enck's book traces the history of plastic: from its earliest incarnation in 1909, when Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, through the "myth" of plastic recycling promoted by industry from the mid-20th century onward.
From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026
In addition to being the mission's chemist, he was also an accomplished astrophysicist.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
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.
