metastable

[ met-uh-stey-buhl, met-uh-stey- ]

adjective

Metallurgy. chemically unstable in the absence of certain conditions that would induce stability, but not liable to spontaneous transformation.
Also labile. Physics, Chemistry. pertaining to a body or system existing at an energy level (metastable state ) above that of a more stable state and requiring the addition of a small amount of energy to induce a transition to the more stable state.

Origin of metastable

First recorded in 1895–1900; meta- + stable²

Other words from metastable

met·a·sta·bil·i·ty [met-uh-stuh-bil-i-tee], /ˌmɛt ə stəˈbɪl ɪ ti/, noun

Words Nearby metastable

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use metastable in a sentence

The result suggests that at high pressure diamond is what scientists call metastable.
Extreme pressure? Diamonds can take it | Emily Conover | February 19, 2021 | Science News For Students
Diamond was already known to be metastable at low pressures.
Extreme pressure? Diamonds can take it | Emily Conover | February 19, 2021 | Science News For Students
X-ray measurements of the material’s structure revealed that diamond persisted, suggesting it is metastable under extreme pressure.
Diamond holds up at pressures more than five times those in Earth’s core | Emily Conover | January 27, 2021 | Science News
To this fact van't Hoff attributes the great permanence of many really unstable (or metastable) carbon compounds.
The Phase Rule and Its Applications | Alexander Findlay
At any point outside this area, monoclinic sulphur can exist only in a metastable condition.
The Phase Rule and Its Applications | Alexander Findlay

This law explains the formation of the metastable forms of monotropic substances, which would otherwise not be obtainable.
The Phase Rule and Its Applications | Alexander Findlay
Two of these solutions, however, would be metastable and supersaturated with respect to the decahydrate.
The Phase Rule and Its Applications | Alexander Findlay
The dotted portions of the curves represent metastable equilibria.
The Phase Rule and Its Applications | Alexander Findlay

British Dictionary definitions for metastable

metastable

/ (ˌmɛtəˈsteɪbəl) physics /

adjective

(of a body or system) having a state of apparent equilibrium although capable of changing to a more stable state
(of an atom, molecule, ion, or atomic nucleus) existing in an excited state with a relatively long lifetime

noun

a metastable atom, ion, molecule, or nucleus

Derived forms of metastable

metastability, noun

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

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