rare earth

Definition of rare earth

1 : any of a group of similar oxides of metals or a mixture of such oxides occurring together in widely distributed but relatively scarce minerals

2 : rare earth element

Examples of rare earth in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The three-week experiment assessed the potential of three species of bacteria to extract rare earth elements from the basalt. — Katie Hunt, CNN, "Bacteria from Earth could potentially be used to mine on the moon or Mars," 10 Nov. 2020 Two of the three rare earth metals used in catalytic converters are worth more per ounce than gold. — Clifford Atiyeh, Car and Driver, "Why Thieves Are Coveting Your Catalytic Converter, Particularly Now," 24 Dec. 2020 Green cited Afghanistan’s strategic proximity to adversary China and the existence of rare earth metals. — Abraham Mahshie, Washington Examiner, "Defense bill threatened by Trump veto would help sick Afghanistan War veterans," 5 Dec. 2020 The 11th hour policy follows a September executive order from President Trump directing agencies to take steps to expand production of critical minerals to reduce reliance on China, from which the U.S. imports 80% of rare earth elements. — Abby Smith, Washington Examiner, "Daily on Energy, presented by API: Trump gives critical minerals mining 11th hour boost through loan program made famous by Solyndra," 2 Dec. 2020 In July, the Chinese government raised its quota for rare earth mining to a record high, as high as 140,000 tonnes (140 million kilograms). — Ben Westcott, CNN, "China breaks national record for Mariana Trench manned-dive amid race for deep sea resources," 11 Nov. 2020 The Republican bill, introduced this week, contains a provision sponsored by Murkowski and Manchin to spend millions for research into extracting rare earth metals from coal. — Abby Smith, Washington Examiner, "Daily on Energy: Path opens for long-stalled Senate bill that would be the biggest update to energy law in decade," 11 Sep. 2020 Extracting the raw rare earth ores, such as bastnasite and monazite, is just the upstream part of the supply chain. — Mary Hui, Quartz, "How China built up its dominance in rare earths," 30 Oct. 2020 One approach that does seem to be working is tapping red mud as a source of scandium, a rare earth metal used to strengthen metal alloys. — Robert F. Service, Science | AAAS, "Red mud is piling up. Can scientists figure out what to do with it?," 20 Aug. 2020

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

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Last Updated

17 Jan 2021

Cite this Entry

“Rare earth.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rare%20earth. Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.

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