Meaning & use
pyrite
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Meaning
noununcountablechemistry
A shiny, brass-yellow mineral made of iron and sulfur, often mistaken for gold.
Grammar: Usually uncountable; a piece or sample of pyrite.
Patterns
- a sample of pyrite
- crystals of pyrite
The shiny rock turned out to be pyrite, not gold.
Cubic crystals of pyrite sparkled in the rock.
Miners often found pyrite near deposits of coal.
Word forms
| plural | pyrites |
|---|
Common combinations
- iron pyrite
- Iron pyrite is the correct name for fool's gold.
- crystals of pyrite
- Crystals of pyrite are often cube-shaped.
- deposits of pyrite
- Deposits of pyrite occur in many countries.
- pyrite and gold
- A hardness test can tell pyrite and gold apart.
- mine pyrite
- Some mines once extracted pyrite for sulfur.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fool's gold
- Fool's gold is the informal nickname, while pyrite is the exact mineral name.
- iron pyrite
- Iron pyrite is just a longer, fuller name for the same mineral.
- iron disulfide
- Iron disulfide is the chemical name, used in science rather than in everyday speech.
Word family
- pyrites noun
- a group of metal sulfide minerals, including pyrite
- pyritic adjective
- containing or resembling pyrite
- pyritize verb
- to convert into or replace with pyrite, used in geology
Commonly confused: pyrite or gold? pyrite or pirate?
pyrite vs gold
Gold is a soft, dense metal that does not break easily, while pyrite is a hard, brittle mineral.
pyrite vs pirate
A pirate is a sea robber; pyrite is a mineral that sounds somewhat similar.
Practice
A prospector finds a bright yellow cube-shaped crystal that breaks easily. It is probably ____.
Choose one answer.
Pyrite forms brass-yellow cubes and is brittle, unlike soft gold. Quartz is usually clear or white and copper looks reddish.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pyrite”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.