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oxide

American  
[ok-sahyd, -sid] / ˈɒk saɪd, -sɪd /
Also oxid

noun

Chemistry.

  1. a compound in which oxygen is bonded to one or more electropositive atoms.

oxide British  
/ ˈɒksaɪd /

noun

  1. any compound of oxygen with another element

  2. any organic compound in which an oxygen atom is bound to two alkyl or aryl groups; an ether or epoxide

"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
oxide Scientific  
/ ŏk′sīd′ /

  1. A compound of oxygen and another element or radical. Water (H 2 O) is an oxide.

Other Word Forms

  • oxidic adjective

Etymology

Origin of oxide

First recorded in 1780–90; from French (now oxyde ), blend of ox(ygène) oxygen and (ac)ide acid

Vocabulary lists containing oxide

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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.

USA Rare Earth invested in Carester, a French rare-earth processing firm, to access its oxide output for a new metal-making facility.

From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026

From a manufacturing perspective, two of the materials used in the device, tungsten and hafnium oxide, are already widely used in semiconductor production.

From Science Daily • Apr. 7, 2026

Chief among them is getting the right mix of calcium oxide and its proprietary binding agent, so the pellets effectively store energy while holding their shape over many charge-discharge cycles.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

To place individual indium atoms precisely on the surface of hafnium oxide, the ETH team developed several new synthesis methods in collaboration with other research groups.

From Science Daily • Mar. 20, 2026

He spent all of five minutes bombarding uranium oxide, and, detecting no neutrons in his apparatus, gave up.

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.