Word.ws English Dictionary

boneseeker

Syllables: bone·seek·er/ˈbəʊnsiːkə/US/ˈboʊnˌsikɚ/

boneseeker noun: any element, especially a radioisotope, that has a tendency to accumulate in bones.

Noun

boneseeker (plural boneseekers)

  1. Any element, especially a radioisotope, that has a tendency to accumulate in bones.
    • Some isotopes that are not alpha-emitters are also "bone[-]seekers," and are not well eliminated. The result is that even a small quantity of these materials, retained in the body, may lead to depression of bone marrow activity, and to serious bone lesions.1954 September 1, Subcommittee on Protection against Radiations from Radium, Cobalt-60, and Cesium-137 Encapsulated Sources, “General Considerations”, in Protection from Radiations from Radium...
    • The bases of working limits for environmental contamination are the permissible limits for internal emitters. If the internal emitter is a bone-seeker (examples are plutonium, Sr⁹⁰, and the rare earths) the criterion for establishing limits is based on the history of humans who have had radium...1959 October, H. A. Kornberg, “Biological Implications of Radioactive Wastes”, in Sixth International Congress and Exhibition of Electronics and Atomic Energy, Rome, Italy, June 1959: U.S. Papers...

Forms of boneseeker

pluralboneseekers
alternative formbone seeker
alternative formbone-seeker

Origin of boneseeker

From bone + seeker.

Questions about boneseeker

What does boneseeker mean?
Boneseeker means any element, especially a radioisotope, that has a tendency to accumulate in bones.
What part of speech is boneseeker?
Boneseeker is a noun.
How do you pronounce boneseeker?
Boneseeker is pronounced /ˈbəʊnsiːkə/ (UK).
What is the plural of boneseeker?
The plural of boneseeker is boneseekers.

Words near boneseeker in the dictionary

  1. bones out
  2. bones to pick
  3. bones up
  4. boneseed
  5. boneseeds
  6. boneseeker
  7. boneseekers
  8. Boneses
  9. boneset
  10. bonesets
  11. bonesetter

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: boneseeker (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-boneseeker.wav.

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