wolfram
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of wolfram
1750–60; < German Wolfram originally, wolframite, probably equivalent to Wolf wolf + -ram, representing Middle High German rām soot, dirt; formed on the model of personal names with initial Wolf-, as a contemptuous epithet for the mineral, which was considered worthless in comparison with tin ores, with which it is often found
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.
Seinfeld casually references Biosphere, Dian Fossey, and tungsten or wolfram, and breaks with the TV cliche of scientists as socially awkward singletons.
From The Guardian • Jul. 12, 2019
It is being re-opened by a company called Wolf Minerals, named after "wolfram", an alternative name for tungsten and why the element is represented by a W in the periodic table.
From BBC • Jul. 11, 2014
A miner holds wolfram in Ngungu, 60km west of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where mineral wealth has caused conflict.
From The Guardian • Oct. 5, 2012
The company was founded in 1906, and the name Osram was created from the names of the two materials needed at the time to produce filaments: osmium and wolfram.
From BusinessWeek • Feb. 28, 2011
Several other mineral substances, as arsenic, molybdena, tungsten, and wolfram, in consequence of being treated as the preceding vegetables ones, have been lately found to yield peculiar acids.
From Heads of Lectures on a Course of Experimental Philosophy: Particularly Including Chemistry by Priestley, Joseph
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.
