phlogistic

American  

[floh-jis-tik] / floʊˈdʒɪs tɪk /

adjective

1. Pathology. inflammatory.

2. pertaining to or consisting of phlogiston.

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phlogistic British  

/ flɒˈdʒɪstɪk /

adjective

1. pathol of inflammation; inflammatory

2. chem of, concerned with, or containing phlogiston

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Other Word Forms

• postphlogistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of phlogistic

1725–35; < Greek phlogist ( ós ) inflammable (verbid of phlogízein to set on fire; akin to phlox, phlegm ) + -ic

Example Sentences

Whatever will unite with pure air, and thence compose an acid, is esteemed in this ingenious theory to be a different kind of phlogistic or inflammable body.

From The Botanic Garden A Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of Vegetation by Darwin, Erasmus

The phlogistic theory, which had tyrannized over chemistry, had been succeeded by the Lavoisierian chemistry, which recognized one acidifier, and this also the one supporter of combustion.

From Heroes of Science Chemists by Muir, M. M. Pattison (Matthew Moncrieff Pattison)

The phlogistic theory did more than serve as a means for bringing together many apparently disconnected facts.

From The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry by Muir, M. M. Pattison

During the phlogistic period, the detection of the constituents of compounds was considerably developed.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 1 "Châtelet" to "Chicago" by Various

At the hands of Stahl and his school, the phlogistic theory, by exhibiting a fundamental similarity between all processes of combustion and by its remarkable flexibility, came to be a general theory of chemical action.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 1 "Châtelet" to "Chicago" by Various