1
: any of various derivatives of phosphine analogous to amines but weaker as bases
2
: a colorless poisonous flammable gas PH3 that is a weaker base than ammonia and that is used especially to fumigate stored grain
Examples of phosphine in a Sentence
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The aluminum phosphide is alleged to have been activated by moisture to create the gas phosphine, which traveled to Fatiha’s apartment above.
—
Kirsty Hatcher, Peoplemag, 19 Jan. 2024
Named the Venus Life Finder (VLF) mission and motivated in part by the controversial claims of Venusian phosphine, the project is led by Sara Seager, a planetary astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
—Leonard David, Scientific American, 14 Nov. 2023
Evidence suggestive of phosphine has seemingly evaporated under deeper scrutiny from skeptics, and VERITAS has suffered a multiyear delay that poses an existential threat to the mission.
—Leonard David, Scientific American, 14 Nov. 2023
The Venus Debate: Is There Life on Venus? Seager, who’s now researching the potential habitability of Venus’ sulfuric acid clouds (by testing the building blocks of DNA), was part of the team that first reported the discovery of phosphine in its boiling atmosphere.
—Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 25 Oct. 2023
As argued in my 2013 paper with Dan Maoz of Tel-Aviv University, these circumstances offer the best opportunity for detecting biosignatures in the atmospheres of exoplanets, in the spirit of the phosphine detection in the cloud deck of our neighboring planet, Venus.
—Avi Loeb, Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2020
That announcement was met with some skepticism, however, with some scientists proposing nonbiological sources of the phosphine, and others suggesting phosphine hadn’t been detected at all.
—NBC News, 5 Feb. 2022
By shifting attention from specific chemical tracers—such as phosphine—to the broader question of how biological processes reorganize materials across entire ecosystems, the paper’s authors say, astrobiologists could illuminate new types of less ambiguous biosignatures.
—Natalie Elliot, Scientific American, 16 July 2021
The scientists found chemical signatures of a molecule called phosphine, which is only produced by living things or in places where there's high heat and pressure.
—Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 18 Sep. 2020
Kirsty Hatcher, Peoplemag, 19 Jan. 2024
Named the Venus Life Finder (VLF) mission and motivated in part by the controversial claims of Venusian phosphine, the project is led by Sara Seager, a planetary astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
—Leonard David, Scientific American, 14 Nov. 2023
Evidence suggestive of phosphine has seemingly evaporated under deeper scrutiny from skeptics, and VERITAS has suffered a multiyear delay that poses an existential threat to the mission.
—Leonard David, Scientific American, 14 Nov. 2023
The Venus Debate: Is There Life on Venus? Seager, who’s now researching the potential habitability of Venus’ sulfuric acid clouds (by testing the building blocks of DNA), was part of the team that first reported the discovery of phosphine in its boiling atmosphere.
—Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 25 Oct. 2023
As argued in my 2013 paper with Dan Maoz of Tel-Aviv University, these circumstances offer the best opportunity for detecting biosignatures in the atmospheres of exoplanets, in the spirit of the phosphine detection in the cloud deck of our neighboring planet, Venus.
—Avi Loeb, Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2020
That announcement was met with some skepticism, however, with some scientists proposing nonbiological sources of the phosphine, and others suggesting phosphine hadn’t been detected at all.
—NBC News, 5 Feb. 2022
By shifting attention from specific chemical tracers—such as phosphine—to the broader question of how biological processes reorganize materials across entire ecosystems, the paper’s authors say, astrobiologists could illuminate new types of less ambiguous biosignatures.
—Natalie Elliot, Scientific American, 16 July 2021
The scientists found chemical signatures of a molecule called phosphine, which is only produced by living things or in places where there's high heat and pressure.
—Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 18 Sep. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'phosphine.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Phosphine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phosphine. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
phosphine
noun
phos·phine
-ˌfēn 
1
: a colorless poisonous flammable gas PH3 that is a weaker base than ammonia and that is used especially to fumigate stored grain
2
: any of various derivatives of phosphine analogous to amines but weaker as bases
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