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: a metallic element with atomic number 39 usually included in the rare-earth group that occurs usually with other rare earth elements in minerals and is used especially in phosphors, YAG lasers, alloys, and treatments for certain cancers see Chemical Elements Table
Examples of yttrium in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Clinicians experimented with different radioactive payloads under compassionate-use protocols that allow seriously ill patients to have access to experimental treatments, using unstable forms of elements like yttrium and indium before largely coalescing around an isotope of lutetium.
—Discover Magazine, 8 July 2024
The aquatic plant contains the elements platinum and rhodium, along with rare-earth elements like neodymium, lanthanum, yttrium and dysprosium.
—Devika Rao, theweek, 22 May 2024
The tape is made up of yttrium barium copper oxide deposited on a steel substrate.
—IEEE Spectrum, 15 July 2023
These new materials, such as the ceramic known as yttrium barium copper oxide, became a superconductor at 93 Kelvin—still cold, but not absolute-zero cold.
—Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics, 15 Aug. 2023
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Word History
Etymology
New Latin, from yttria yttrium oxide (Y2O3), irregular from Ytterby, town in southern Sweden
First Known Use
1814, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near yttrium
Cite this Entry
“Yttrium.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yttrium. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
Kids Definition
Medical Definition
yttrium
noun
yt·tri·um
ˈi-trē-əm
: a trivalent metallic element usually included among the rare earth elements which it resembles chemically and with which it occurs in minerals
—symbol Y
see Chemical Elements Table
More from Merriam-Webster on yttrium
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about yttrium
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