inorganic
Americanadjective
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not having the structure or organization characteristic of living bodies.
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not characterized by vital processes.
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Chemistry. noting or pertaining to compounds that are not hydrocarbons or their derivatives.
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not fundamental or related; extraneous.
adjective
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not having the structure or characteristics of living organisms; not organic
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relating to or denoting chemical compounds that do not contain carbon Compare organic
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not having a system, structure, or ordered relation of parts; amorphous
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not resulting from or produced by growth; artificial
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linguistics denoting or relating to a sound or letter introduced into the pronunciation or spelling of a word at some point in its history
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Not involving organisms or the products of their life processes.
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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 (NH 3); a few, such as carbon dioxide (CO 2), 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.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inorganic
Vocabulary lists containing inorganic
Earth Science - Middle School
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Rocks and Minerals - Introductory
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Earth Science - High School
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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.
“Investors were fearing a growth slowdown. By boosting its revenue guidance through inorganic growth, Adyen gave the market the number it wanted to see,” de Villeneuve says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Within each lineage, newly evolved enzymes gradually replaced the inorganic catalysts supplied by the environment where metabolism had first developed.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
“Investors are increasingly looking for either a meaningful inorganic reserve/resource addition or a move back to improved distributions,” says analyst Declan Bonnick.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The author proposes that this transformation occurred primarily through a process described as "inorganic photosynthesis."
From Science Daily ● Jun. 10, 2026
It is too soon to say that all the Viking microbiology results can be explained by inorganic chemistry, but such a result would no longer be surprising.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
