noun
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a shop selling medicines, cosmetics, etc
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a qualified dispenser of prescribed medicines
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a person studying, trained in, or engaged in chemistry
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an obsolete word for alchemist
Other Word Forms
- nonchemist noun
Etymology
Origin of chemist
First recorded in 1555–65; from Greek chēm(ía) (also chēmeía, chymeía ) “art of alloying metals; alchemy” + -ist; replacing chymist, from Medieval Latin alchimista; alchemist ( def. )
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.
"Some of the SPF testing, I feel, has become a bit more of a marketing exercise than a real reflection of efficacy," cosmetic chemist Michelle Wong told the BBC last year.
From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026
Around that time, Tchinnis joined the company’s Melville, N.Y., manufacturing facility as a chemist.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026
Enck's book traces the history of plastic: from its earliest incarnation in 1909, when Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, through the "myth" of plastic recycling promoted by industry from the mid-20th century onward.
From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026
“We thought it would be the same, but it was different,” said Kujak, a 59-year-old chemist.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026
The episode began with a prickly remark by Columbia’s Harold Urey, a chemist who maintained a lively skepticism about the cyclotron’s usefulness.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
