samarium

noun

sa·​mar·​i·​um sə-ˈmer-ē-əm How to pronounce samarium (audio)
: a silvery-white lustrous metallic element of the rare-earth group that is used especially in permanent magnets see Chemical Elements Table

Examples of samarium in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The specific rare-earth elements are neodymium, praseodymium, samarium, and dysprosium. IEEE Spectrum, 15 Nov. 2023 As researchers discovered decades ago, magnetic strength can be greatly improved by adding to the crystalline lattice atoms with unpaired electrons in the 4f orbital—notably the rare-earth elements neodymium, samarium, and dysprosium. IEEE Spectrum, 22 Mar. 2023 In just six months the price of samarium oxide quadrupled, to more than $50 a pound in May of this year, owing to its property as a permanent supermagnet when alloyed with cobalt. Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Discover Magazine, 21 Sep. 2011 In that year, Frenchman Eugène-Anatole Demarçay isolated the element as an impurity in samples of another rare earth, samarium (named, indirectly, after Russian mine official V. E. Samarsky-Bykhovets). Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Discover Magazine, 21 Sep. 2011 Japanese scientist Masato Sagawa, for example—who just won the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering—developed the NdFeB magnet in the 1980s to replace the costly cobalt in samarium-cobalt magnets. Mary Hui, Quartz, 7 Mar. 2022 Known as the samarium-cobalt (SmCo) magnet, it was developed in the 1960s in the US and was far more powerful than previous permanent magnets. Mary Hui, Quartz, 14 May 2021 The first rare earth magnet to have been developed was based on the rare earth samarium and the transition metal cobalt. Mary Hui, Quartz, 14 May 2021 To the researchers' shock, perfectly doubled conductance happened in their samarium hexaboride experiment. Rachel Crowell, Scientific American, 9 July 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'samarium.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

New Latin, from French samarskite

First Known Use

1879, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of samarium was in 1879

Dictionary Entries Near samarium

Cite this Entry

“Samarium.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/samarium. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

samarium

noun
sa·​mar·​i·​um sə-ˈmer-ē-əm How to pronounce samarium (audio)
-ˈmar-
: a pale gray shiny metallic element see element

Medical Definition

samarium

noun
sa·​mar·​i·​um sə-ˈmer-ē-əm, -ˈmar- How to pronounce samarium (audio)
: a pale gray lustrous metallic element used especially in alloys that form permanent magnets
symbol Sm
see Chemical Elements Table

More from Merriam-Webster on samarium

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!