Meaning & use
ozone
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Meanings
noununcountablechemistry
A pale blue gas made of three oxygen atoms, found high in the atmosphere where it blocks harmful ultraviolet light.
Grammar: Not used with a: the ozone high above Earth.
Patterns
- the ozone layer
- ozone depletion
The ozone layer protects living things from ultraviolet rays.
Scientists measured the amount of ozone over the Antarctic.
Banned chemicals had been thinning the ozone for years.
noununcountable
Ground-level air pollution formed when sunlight reacts with exhaust and other gases, which can harm breathing.
Grammar: Ground-level ozone is a pollutant, unlike ozone high above.
Patterns
- ground-level ozone
- ozone alert
The city issued an ozone alert for the hot afternoon.
Ozone can make asthma worse in summer.
Traffic fumes help form ozone near the ground.
Common combinations
- ozone layer
- The ozone layer shields the planet from strong ultraviolet light.
- ozone hole
- The ozone hole over Antarctica has slowly shrunk.
- ozone depletion
- Ozone depletion was linked to certain aerosols.
- ground-level ozone
- Ground-level ozone is common in hot, sunny cities.
- ozone-friendly
- The spray is labeled ozone-friendly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- trioxygen
- Trioxygen is a chemical name for ozone and is mostly seen in scientific writing.
Word family
- ozonize verb
- to treat with ozone
- ozonic adjective
- relating to ozone
- ozonation noun
- treatment with ozone, such as in water cleaning
Commonly confused: ozone or oxygen?
ozone vs oxygen
Ordinary oxygen has two atoms per molecule and is what we breathe; ozone has three and irritates the lungs.
Practice
Certain chemicals once used in refrigerators damaged the ______ layer high above the Earth.
Choose one answer.
The ozone layer blocks ultraviolet light and was thinned by these chemicals. The other gases do not form that protective layer.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ozone”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.