Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, involving, or acting as a catalyst: "Deregulation's catalytic power . . . is still reshaping the banking, communications, and transportation industries” ( Ellyn E. Spragins).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of, pertaining to, or characterized by catalysis; having the power of decomposing a compound body apparently by mere contact; resulting from catalysis.
- A term applied to evolutionary stages or conditions in which organisms are degenerating toward sterility, as a result either of too wide cross-breeding or of too narrow inbreeding. Aberrant or mutative hybrids and abrupt mutative variations or sports appear in the catalytic stages. Compare dialytic, 4, *hemilytic, and *prostholytic.
- n. Same as catalytic agent.
Wiktionary
- adj. chemistry Of or relating to a catalyst; having properties facilitating chemical reaction or change.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Relating to, or causing, catalysis.
- n. (Chem.) An agent employed in catalysis, as platinum black, aluminium chloride, etc.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. relating to or causing or involving catalysis
Etymologies
- Greek katalutikos, able to dissolve, from katalusis, dissolution; see catalysis. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term catalytic is loosely used by RNA world enthusiasts who put forth the argument that RNA catalytic properties could have initially substituted for those of proteins.”
“It only treats, by way of analogy, the subject of the ability of RV+NS to rapidly acquire peaks of fitness, and if you extend the analogy (as I have done) to something like protein catalytic rates then you can understand how highly catalytic proteins could evolve and not need to be assembled tornado-in-a-junkyard fashion by random chance.”
“BTW - immigrants (be they illegal or legal) contribute to urban sprawl, increased pollution from cars, increased pollution from power plants, increased usage of water, increased usage of mined metals (in catalytic converters, cell phones, jewelry, etc) and deforastion.”
“The pace and style of political change is set by what might be called the catalytic nations, radiating their influence to their immediate neighbors, prompting also imitation among the more distant, and leaving only a few isolated regions impervious to the impact of new political fashions and ideas.”
“Platinum and palladium are widely used in car-exhaust filters, known as catalytic converters, with auto-catalyst demand accounting for about 46% of platinum and 61% of palladium consumption, according to specialty chemicals company Johnson Matthey PLC.”
The Wall Street Journal: EU Troubles Lift Gold; Platinum, Palladium Sink on Car Sales
“Platinum and palladium are primarily used in car exhaust filters, known as catalytic converters with auto-catalyst demand accounting for around 46% of platinum and 61% of palladium consumption, according to specialty chemicals company Johnson Matthey PLC.”
The Wall Street Journal: Gold Falls On Easing Inflation Fears
“Both metals are used to make car exhaust filters, known as catalytic converters, making their prices sensitive to fluctuations in automotive production.”
The Wall Street Journal: Gold Closes Above $1,500 for First Time
“The noble metals are widely used in car exhaust filters, known as catalytic converters, leaving their prices sensitive to disruptions in the automotive sector.”
“Platinum and palladium are heavily used in manufacturing car-exhaust filters known as catalytic converters, and prices tend to soften when demand falls.”
The Wall Street Journal: Precious Metals Slump On Economy, Profit-Taking
“Platinum is widely used in car exhaust filters, known as catalytic converters, and prices tend to be very sensitive to the automotive sector recovery in Japan, home to the world's largest car makers.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘catalytic’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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elvesoncrack's Words
lachrymose, blustering, fjord, chihuahua, chiffon, catalytic, stile, gefilte, prosh, thwart, ralph, ickle and 379 more...
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Aequoria's list
affect, deleterious, nuance, pliant, verbatim, pertinent, latter, municipality, provincial, voyeuristic, circumlocution, wane and 798 more...
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Dain's Words
rabble, terminus, archaic, atavism, demiurge, waylay, syzygy, jocoserious, quark, entropy, cinnabar, shamble and 912 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, C
cryptoxanthin, convent, calcar, chuckle, campanile, covet, complexion, campestral, chirography, counterscarp, caliginous, catabolism and 722 more...
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Factory Joe's Dictionary
The favorite and phantasmagorical word pickings of Chris Messina.
transmogrification, placelessness, surreal, believe, ambidextrous, brinkmanship, utter, sasquatch, serendipitous, opinion, ayatollah, skirmish and 66 more...
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Favourite Words
Some of my favourite words.
vulture, savage, savagery, vivisection, wolves, howl, bones, boney, skeletal, ephemeral, simulacrum, slaughter and 23 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for catalytic.
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