carbonate

[ noun kahr-buh-neyt, -nit; verb kahr-buh-neyt ]

noun

1. a salt or ester of carbonic acid.

verb (used with object)

, car·bon·at·ed, car·bon·at·ing.

1. to form into a carbonate.
2. to charge or impregnate with carbon dioxide:

   carbonated drinks.

3. to make sprightly; enliven.

carbonate

noun

1. a salt or ester of carbonic acid. Carbonate salts contain the divalent ion CO 3 ^2–

verb

1. to form or turn into a carbonate
2. tr to treat with carbon dioxide or carbonic acid, as in the manufacture of soft drinks

carbonate

/ kär′bə-nāt′ /

Noun

1. A salt or ester of carbonic acid, containing the group CO 3 . The reaction of carbonic acid with a metal results in a salt (such as sodium carbonate), and the reaction of carbonic acid with an organic compound results in an ester (such as diethyl carbonate).
2. Any other compound containing the group CO 3 . Carbonates include minerals such as calcite and aragonite.
3. Sediment or a sedimentary rock formed by the precipitation of organic or inorganic carbon from an aqueous solution of carbonates of calcium, magnesium, or iron. Limestone is a carbonate rock.

Verb

1. To add carbon dioxide to a substance, such as a beverage.

Other Words From

• carbon·ator noun
• non·carbo·nate noun
• non·carbo·nated adjective
• semi·carbon·ate adjective
• un·carbon·ated adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of carbonate¹

1785–95; carbon(ic acid) + -ate ², later taken as -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of carbonate¹

C18: from French, from carbone carbon

Example Sentences

When it comes to permanently storing CO2, there’s growing interest in using certain minerals that react with the gas and lock it up in the form of stable carbonates.

From Singularity Hub 

Calcium carbonate is found in nature as limestone, and is a common additive to consumer products like paper and toothpaste.

From Singularity Hub 

Ultimately those creatures die, their shells sinking to the ocean floor and becoming carbonate rocks themselves.

From Science News

Carbon dioxide from the air reacts with the electrolyte, forming carbonates that block one electrode.

From Ars Technica

The new picture of a broadly moist Bennu forerunner fits with studies of meteorites on Earth, where researchers had seen similar carbonate veins.

From Popular-Science

Using vinegar to break up the calcium carbonate deposits in your coffee maker?

From The Daily Beast

When ordinary methods do not suffice, it can usually be cleared by shaking up with a little magnesium carbonate and filtering.

From Project Gutenberg

It is in this way that lime, which occurs in the soil principally as the insoluble carbonate, is dissolved and absorbed.

From Project Gutenberg

But the part soluble in acids is distinguished by the great abundance of carbonate of lime.

From Project Gutenberg

Chalk is a very pure form of carbonate of lime, and where it abounds has been largely employed as an application on the soil.

From Project Gutenberg

Calcareous incrustations, including fragments of madrepores, and of shells, cemented by splintery carbonate of lime.

From Project Gutenberg