catalyst
UK/ˈkæt.ɪ.lɪst/US/ˈkæt.ə.lɪst/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
catalyst noun: a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process.
Noun
catalyst (plural catalysts)
- A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process.
- Enzymes, the catalysts of biological systems, are remarkable molecular devices that determine the pattern of chemical transformations.1988, Lubert Stryer, Biochemistry, 3rd edition, page 177
- Something that encourages progress or change.
- (obsolete)
- Economic development and integration are working as a catalyst for peace.
- Synonyms:
- stimulus, straw that stirs the drink, solicitor
- An inciting incident that sets the successive conflict into motion.
- The current view by both Labour and Conservative politicians is that the state of the UK railway is unsustainable, and the pandemic acted as a catalyst in exposing its weaknesses.2023 May 31, Tammy Samuel, Fergus McLaverty, “The political picture: what lies ahead for Britain's railways?”, in RAIL, number 984, page 31
- A catalytic converter.
- An object that facilitates the casting of a spell (such as a magic wand).
catalyst meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu
catalyst in Hindi
- substance which increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process
- उत्प्रेरक utprerak
catalyst in Tamil
- வினைவேக மாற்றி, வினைவேகமாற்றி, வினையூக்கி, வேதி வினை ஊக்கி, கிரியவினையூக்கி, கிரியா ஊக்கி
catalyst in Bengali
- অনুঘটক
catalyst in Telugu
- substance which increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process
- ఉత్ప్రేరకం utprērakaṁ
More languagesFewer languages
- catalyst in Kannada
- ಚುರುಕಿ, ಕ್ರಿಯಾವರ್ಧಕ, ವೇಗವರ್ಧಕ, ಪರಿವರ್ತಕ
- catalyst in Gujarati
- ઉદ્દીપક uddīpak
- catalyst in Tagalog
- pangganapbilos
- catalyst in Arabic
- حَفَّاز ḥaffāz
- catalyst in Malay
- mangkin, katalis, katalisator
- catalyst in Indonesian
- katalis, katalisator
- catalyst in Persian
- کاتالیزگر kâtâlizgar
- catalyst in Thai
- ตัวเร่ง dtuua-rêng
- catalyst in Vietnamese
- chất xúc tác
Examples of catalyst in a sentence
- It was a morning baptized by my first cup of coffee, freshly brewed over a gravel-bar fire, while they celebrated with the stronger catalyst of sour-mash whiskey in their fishing-vest cups.1978, Ernest George Schwiebert, Trout, volume 2:
- Israel's fear for the reactor—rather than Egypt's of it—was the greater catalyst for war.2004, Michael B. Oren, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the making of the modern Middle East, page 76:
- Rosa Parks was a true catalyst for change and she was only one person.2006, The Freedom Writers, with Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and...
- The catalyst was the introduction of the Health & Safety at Work Act in 1974.2022 January 26, John Crosse, “When the tide turned to a safer railway...”, in RAIL, number 949, page 53:
Synonyms of catalyst
Antonyms
Forms of catalyst
| plural | catalysts |
|---|
Origin of catalyst
From catalysis + -ist.
Words formed from catalyst
- Adams's catalyst
- anticatalyst
- autocatalyst
- biocatalyst
- catalyse
- catalyze
- catalysis
- catalystic
- catalytic
- cocatalyst
- electrocatalyst
- Grubbs' catalyst
- Lindlar catalyst
- nanocatalyst
- organocatalyst
- phase-transfer catalyst
- photocatalyst
- precatalyst
- sonocatalyst
- stereospecific catalyst
- supercatalyst
- triphase catalyst
- Vandenberg catalyst
- Ziegler catalyst
- Ziegler-Natta catalyst
Phrases with catalyst
Questions about catalyst
- What does catalyst mean?
- Catalyst means a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process.
- What is catalyst in Hindi?
- Catalyst in Hindi is उत्प्रेरक (utprerak). See Catalyst meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use catalyst in a sentence?
- It was a morning baptized by my first cup of coffee, freshly brewed over a gravel-bar fire, while they celebrated with the stronger catalyst of sour-mash whiskey in their fishing-vest cups.
- What part of speech is catalyst?
- Catalyst is a noun.
- How do you pronounce catalyst?
- Catalyst is pronounced /ˈkæt.ɪ.lɪst/ (UK).
- What is the plural of catalyst?
- The plural of catalyst is catalysts.
Words near catalyst in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: catalyst (page history and authors); catalyst (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); catalyst (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); catalyst (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-ncalif-catalyst.ogg, en-au-catalyst.ogg.
Cite this entry: “catalyst.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catalyst. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.