Dictionary

unmetallic en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˌʌn.mɪˈtæl.ɪk/

Etymology

From un- + metallic.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Not metallic.
   • The robot bowed. “Thank you, gentlemen,” it said, in sweet, unmetallic accents. “Now if you will please escort me to the meeting place …” 1960, Henry Slesar, “The Delegate from Venus”, in The Works of Henry Slesar:
   • The light duſky blew concretes as well as the green, called by ſome Copper okers, yield a great deal of very good Copper when they are pure, which may be known from their colour and weight ; but thoſe that are more light are mixed with unmetallick earth, and thoſe that are yellow, containing iron oker ; on which account they are the more difficult to be met with, and yield leſs Copper of an inferior ſort. 1763, Richard Brookes, “Copper”, in The Natural History of Waters, Earths, Stones, Fossils, and Minerals, volume V, London: J. Newbery, page 121:
   • The acid, now impregnated with a new matter, paſſes on ; till meeting with ſome other convenient nidus, it lodges in that, and thereby acquires a freſh impregnation, perhaps at laſt totally unmetallick ; or, for want of meeting with a proper nidus, appears at the ſurface, weakly or ſtrongly tinctured with thoſe principles it had laſt imbibed. 1778, William Pryce, “Of the Origin and Formation of Metals and Minerals”, in Mineralogia Cornubiensis; A Treatise on Minerals, Mines, and Mining, London: James Phillips, page 6:

Forms

Synonyms

nonmetallic