rare earth
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.59 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any of the naturally occurring oxides of the lanthanide metals; they are widely distributed in relatively small concentrations and are used in glassmaking, ceramic glazes etc.
noun
Example Sentences
- "Meronyms: rare earth element, rare earth metal"
- "The metallic base of yttria, a very rare earth, discovered in a mineral called godolinite."
- "Near-synonym: lanthanide"
- "Despite their name, rare earths are not so rare. The most common, cerium, is as plentiful in the Earth's crust as copper or lead. The difference between them and more familiar materials is that, in nature, rare earths are almost never found on their own. Rather, they're mixed with other minerals, and often at low concentrations, making them difficult to mine economically."
- "But the government also gave MP Materials a decade-long guaranteed price floor for its products, such as the rare earths neodymium-praseodymium, at twice recent market rates (leaving aside the fact prices have soared this week as MP Materials has cut ties with China)."