metal

The word “metal” means a class of chemical elements (and their alloys) that are typically shiny, hard, and good conductors of heat and electricity, such as iron, gold, or aluminum. In plain terms, a hard, often shiny material like iron or gold, or (informally) the loud guitar-driven music genre.

“Metal” is pronounced MEH-tuhl (/ˈmɛ.təl/ in IPA).

Here is “metal” used in a sentence: “The bridge was built from steel, a strong and durable metal.”

The opposite of “metal” — its antonyms — is nonmetal.

Depending on how it is used, “metal” can be a noun and an adjective.

The word “metal” comes from Ancient Greek. From Old French metal, from Latin metallum ("metal, mine"), from Ancient Greek metallon ("mine, quarry").

“Metal” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A2 level.

“Metal” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a class of chemical elements (and their alloys) that are typically shiny, hard, and good conductors of heat and electricity, such as iron, gold, or aluminum.

Metals are typically shiny, hard, and good conductors of heat and electricity, and they can usually be bent or drawn into shapes. Nonmetals, like sulphur or oxygen, are generally dull, poor conductors, and brittle when solid. The two groups sit on opposite sides of the periodic table and behave very differently in chemistry.

A metal is a single chemical element such as iron, copper, or gold. An alloy is a mixture of a metal with one or more other elements, made to improve its properties — steel, for example, is iron mixed with carbon. All alloys are based on metals, but not every metal is an alloy.

Metals are often grouped as ferrous (containing iron, like steel) and non-ferrous (such as aluminium, copper, and gold). Chemists also distinguish alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals, and precious metals. These groupings reflect differences in reactivity, weight, value, and use, but all share the core metallic properties.

No. Only a few metals — mainly iron, nickel, and cobalt, plus steels made from them — are strongly magnetic. Most metals, including gold, copper, aluminium, and silver, are not attracted to magnets at all. So magnetism is a property of certain metals rather than a feature of metals in general.