molybdenite

[muh-lib-duh-nahyt]

noun

a soft, graphitelike mineral, molybdenum sulfide, MoS2, occurring in foliated masses or scales: the principal ore of molybdenum.

Origin of molybdenite

1790–1800; obsolete molybden(a) molybdenum + -ite¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for molybdenite

Historical Examples of molybdenite

The larger part of the world's production is from the molybdenite ores.
The Economic Aspect of Geology
C. K. Leith
The chief ore minerals are molybdenite (molybdenum sulphide) and wulfenite (lead molybdate).
The Economic Aspect of Geology
C. K. Leith
In molybdenite deposits secondary concentration has not been important.
The Economic Aspect of Geology
C. K. Leith
Wulfenite is rather common in the upper oxidized zone of deposits which contain lead minerals and molybdenite.
The Economic Aspect of Geology
C. K. Leith
In the deposits of New South Wales they are found associated with molybdenite in quartz gangue, in pipe-like deposits in granite.
The Economic Aspect of Geology
C. K. Leith

British Dictionary definitions for molybdenite

molybdenite

noun

a soft grey mineral consisting of molybdenum sulphide in hexagonal crystalline form with rhenium as an impurity: the main source of molybdenum and rhenium. Formula: MoS 2

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

molybdenite in Science

molybdenite

[mə-lĭb′də-nīt′]

A soft, lead-gray hexagonal mineral that is the principal ore of molybdenum. It occurs as sheetlike masses in pegmatites and in areas where contact metamorphism has taken place. Chemical formula: MoS2.