APATITE

Pronunciation (US):

• APATITE (noun)
  The noun APATITE has 1 sense:

1. a common complex mineral consisting of calcium fluoride phosphate or calcium chloride phosphate; a source of phosphorus

  Familiarity information: APATITE used as a noun is very rare.

• APATITE (noun)

Meaning:

A common complex mineral consisting of calcium fluoride phosphate or calcium chloride phosphate; a source of phosphorus

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("apatite" is a kind of...):

mineral (solid homogeneous inorganic substances occurring in nature having a definite chemical composition)

Meronyms (substance of "apatite"):

atomic number 15; P; phosphorus (a multivalent nonmetallic element of the nitrogen family that occurs commonly in inorganic phosphate rocks and as organic phosphates in all living cells; is highly reactive and occurs in several allotropic forms)

atomic number 65; Tb; terbium (a metallic element of the rare earth group; used in lasers; occurs in apatite and monazite and xenotime and ytterbite)

atomic number 69; thulium; Tm (a soft silvery metallic element of the rare earth group; isotope 170 emits X-rays and is used in small portable X-ray machines; it occurs in monazite and apatite and xenotime)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "apatite"):

fluorapatite (a form of apatite in which fluorine predominates over chlorine)