manganese

[ mang-guh-nees, -neez ]

nounChemistry.
  1. a hard, brittle, grayish-white, metallic element, an oxide of which, MnO2(manganese dioxide ), is a valuable oxidizing agent: used chiefly as an alloying agent in steel to give it toughness. Symbol: Mn; atomic weight: 54.938; atomic number: 25; specific gravity: 7.2 at 20°C.

Origin of manganese

1
1670–80; <French manganèse<Italian manganese, alteration of Medieval Latin magnesiamagnesia

Words Nearby manganese

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use manganese in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for manganese

manganese

/ (ˈmæŋɡəˌniːz) /


noun
  1. a brittle greyish-white metallic element that exists in four allotropic forms, occurring principally in pyrolusite and rhodonite: used in making steel and ferromagnetic alloys. Symbol: Mn; atomic no: 25; atomic wt: 54.93805; valency: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 7; relative density: 7.21–7.44; melting pt: 1246±3°C; boiling pt: 2062°C

Origin of manganese

1
C17: via French from Italian manganese, probably altered form of Medieval Latin magnesia

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for manganese

manganese

[ mănggə-nēz′ ]


Mn
  1. A grayish-white, hard, brittle metallic element that occurs in several different minerals and in nodules on the ocean floor. It is used to increase the hardness and strength of steel and other important alloys. Atomic number 25; atomic weight 54.9380; melting point 1,244°C; boiling point 1,962°C; specific gravity 7.21 to 7.44; valence 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7. See Periodic Table.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.