beryllium

noun be·ryl·li·um \ bə-ˈri-lē-əm \

|Updated on: 15 Aug 2018

Definition of beryllium

: a toxic divalent metallic element with four protons that is steel-gray in color, light and strong but brittle, and is used chiefly as a hardening agent in alloys — see Chemical Elements Table

See beryllium defined for kids

Recent Examples of beryllium from the Web

Master & Dynamic has made that possible with the MW50+ headphones that retail for $399 — these are premium cans with 40mm beryllium drivers, after all.

— stefan etienne, The Verge, "Master & Dynamic MW50+ review: weak magnetism," 5 July 2018
Soils below those levels are placed in other stockpiles, and further tested for beryllium and lead levels.

— keith matheny, Detroit Free Press, "Radioactive soil from Ohio heads to Wayne County landfill next week," 22 June 2018
In addition to beryllium, the soil contains lead and radioactive elements of thorium, radium and uranium.

— keith matheny, Detroit Free Press, "Radioactive soil from Ohio heads to Wayne County landfill next week," 22 June 2018
Harry Daghlian, another physicist at Los Alamos, had attempted a similar experiment the previous year using tungsten-carbide bricks instead of a beryllium dome.

— julian g. west, The Atlantic, "The Atomic-Bomb Core That Escaped World War II," 2 Apr. 2018
In the early summer, just as a rule to put new limits on beryllium, an industrial mineral linked to lung disease, went into effect, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed a rule to revoke some of its provisions.

— eric lipton and danielle ivory, New York Times, "Trump Says His Regulatory Rollback Already Is the ‘Most Far-Reaching’," 14 Dec. 2017
In the experiments described in the paper, IBM researchers used a quantum computer to derive the lowest energy state of a molecule of beryllium hydride.

— jeremy kahn, Bloomberg.com, "IBM Makes Breakthrough in Race to Commercialize Quantum Computers," 13 Sep. 2017
In the experiment, six of these quibits were used to map the energy states of the six electrons in the beryllium hydride molecule.

— jeremy kahn, Bloomberg.com, "IBM Makes Breakthrough in Race to Commercialize Quantum Computers," 13 Sep. 2017
On the flip side, the abundances of magnesium, tin, bromine, boron, cadmium, and beryllium within the Earth appear to be significantly lower than previous estimates.

— jay bennett, Popular Mechanics, "Scientists Create Most Accurate Estimate of Earth's Composition," 18 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'beryllium.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of beryllium

New Latin, from Greek bēryllion

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1819

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

Medical Dictionary

beryllium

noun be·ryl·li·um \ bə-ˈril-ē-əm \

medical Definition of beryllium

: a steel-gray light strong brittle toxic bivalent metallic element used chiefly as a hardening agent in alloys —symbol Be — see Chemical Elements Table