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Smithson

American  
[smith-suhn] / ˈsmɪθ sən /

noun

  1. James, 1765–1829, English chemist and mineralogist.


Smithson British  
/ ˈsmɪθsən /

noun

  1. James. original name James Lewes Macie. 1765–1829, English chemist and mineralogist, who left a bequest to found the Smithsonian Institution

"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

Example Sentences

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The Smithsonian is named for James Smithson, a British scientist who endowed the museum with a gift in his will.

From Slate • Dec. 20, 2025

Robert Smithson had bulldozed dirt and rocks to build a spiral jetty coiling out into Utah’s Great Salt Lake.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2025

Smithson’s biographer, Heather Ewing, has noted that Smithson was friends with a “who’s who of European science,” men who “proclaimed themselves citizens of the globe.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 3, 2025

In a statement issued to the BBC, Det Supt Smithson said he had corresponded with Lorraine on a number of occasions.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2025

His personal identification with romantic heroes such as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet seemed to have fuelled not just musical inspiration but his crazed, desperate infatuation with a Shakespearean actress, Harriet Smithson.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

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