carbon-date

[ kahr-buhn-deyt ]

verb (used with object)

, car·bon-dat·ed, car·bon-dat·ing.

1. to estimate the age of (an object of plant or animal origin) by radiocarbon dating.

Word History and Origins

Origin of carbon-date¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

I don’t personally think that you need to carbon-date every incident, or that everything needs to be shoved in an evidence bag and waved in the other person’s face.

From Seattle Times

A small amount of carbon-14 was also added so future scientists would be able to carbon-date the package from the past.

From Salon

“We can’t carbon-date them,” he said.

From New York Times

They could carbon-date the remnants of the fire pit to learn when prehistoric people were using that very tool.

From Washington Times

The team used two underwater robotic explorers to map out a 3-D image of the ship and they took a sample to carbon-date its age.

From BBC

Related Words

• belong to
• come from
• determine
• mark
• register