Silicate

Description

Any natural or synthetic material containing silicon, oxygen, and one or more metals. Silicates form over 90% of the minerals found in the earth's crust. Rocks and clays (granite, feldspar, mica, talc, and kaolin) are silicates, as well as some gemstones (beryl, garnet, and jade).

Synonyms and Related Terms

granite; feldspar; kaolin; soapstone; talc; vermiculite; clay; mica; beryl; silicato (Esp., Port); silicate (Fr.); Siikat (Deut.); silikaat (Ned.)

Authority

• Richard S. Lewis, Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Michael McCann, Michael McCann, Artist Beware, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York City, 1979

• Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976

• Random House, Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998