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Examples of abiotic in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
So far, scientists haven’t managed to come up with an abiotic explanation for oxygen-methane biosignatures.
—Elise Cutts, WIRED, 7 Apr. 2024
Continued abiotic reactions with formate could produce larger organic compounds like amino acids, which can be strung together into molecules essential for life, such as enzymes and other proteins.
—Quanta Magazine, 4 Jan. 2024
Organic carbon can be abiotic – that is, unrelated to a living organism.
—Amy J. Williams, Discover Magazine, 16 Mar. 2024
Identifying abiotic reactions in nature could inform future lab experiments testing prebiotic chemistry, where researchers can tweak the conditions to more closely simulate early Earth or other worlds, Barge explained.
—Quanta Magazine, 4 Jan. 2024
As more continues to be demystified about biological and abiotic ice nucleators, they could eventually be used for more efficient methods of freezing food, making snow, creating clouds, and possibly the cryogenic freezing of human cells, which was recently successful.
—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 7 Dec. 2023
Yet all of these can come from abiotic sources, such as ozone from water vapor in the atmosphere, or sulfides from volcanoes.
—WIRED, 2 Oct. 2023
The discovery uncovers a chicken and egg conundrum: which came first, abiotic methane or the microbes?
—Roni Dengler, Discover Magazine, 22 Apr. 2019
This type of stress is called abiotic stress and results from unmet plant needs, usually too much or too little of something.
—Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Apr. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'abiotic.' 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
First Known Use
1870, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near abiotic
Cite this Entry
“Abiotic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abiotic. Accessed 19 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
abiotic
adjective
abi·ot·ic
ˌā-bī-ˈät-ik
: not living or composed of living things
water and rock are abiotic
Medical Definition
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