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:
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
Gallium was discovered in 1875 by French chemist Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 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
The planet faced a cataclysmic agricultural crisis until the German chemist Fritz Haber discovered a process for cheaply producing nitrogen fertilizer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
His mother tells him that she is a year younger than he is, that she has a much younger brother, that her father is a renowned chemist with a patent to his name.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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
"But that's why we need chemists and people who understand chemical structure to be working in this field."
From Science Daily ● Mar. 29, 2026
Lawrence, an organometallic chemist, says "chemists are here to solve problems and to try to make your world better."
From Science Daily ● Mar. 26, 2026
Many others earned the esteem of their fellow chemists and physicists even if they fell short of the ultimate honor—a Nobel Prize.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
