inorganic

[ in-awr-gan-ik ]
See synonyms for inorganic on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. not having the structure or organization characteristic of living bodies.

  2. not characterized by vital processes.

  1. Chemistry. noting or pertaining to compounds that are not hydrocarbons or their derivatives.: Compare organic (def. 1).

  2. not fundamental or related; extraneous.

Origin of inorganic

1
First recorded in 1785–95; in-3 + organic

Other words from inorganic

  • in·or·gan·i·cal·ly, adverb

Words Nearby inorganic

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How to use inorganic in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for inorganic

inorganic

/ (ˌɪnɔːˈɡænɪk) /


adjective
  1. not having the structure or characteristics of living organisms; not organic

  2. relating to or denoting chemical compounds that do not contain carbon: Compare organic (def. 4)

  1. not having a system, structure, or ordered relation of parts; amorphous

  2. not resulting from or produced by growth; artificial

  3. linguistics denoting or relating to a sound or letter introduced into the pronunciation or spelling of a word at some point in its history

Derived forms of inorganic

  • inorganically, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for inorganic

inorganic

[ ĭn′ôr-gănĭk ]


  1. Not involving organisms or the products of their life processes.

  2. Relating to chemical compounds that occur mainly outside of living or once living organisms, such as those in rocks, minerals, and ceramics. Most inorganic compounds lack carbon, such as salt (NaCl) and ammonia (NH3); a few, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), do contain it, but never attached to hydrogen atoms as in hydrocarbons. Inorganic molecules tend to have a relatively small number of atoms as compared with organic molecules.

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