"phlogiston" meaning in English

See phlogiston in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: phlogiston [singular], – [plural]
Head templates: {{noun|phlogiston|none}} [POS TABLE]
  1. An ancient Greek idea of energy, which was used up when things burned. For example, burning wood would use up the phlogiston in the wood and the air (which actually had no oxygen). When the air or the wood had lost their phlogiston they could not be used. Scientists now know this idea is wrong.
    Sense id: simple-phlogiston-en-noun-d1-SgEOm
     
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
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  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "An ancient Greek idea of energy, which was used up when things burned. For example, burning wood would use up the phlogiston in the wood and the air (which actually had no oxygen). When the air or the wood had lost their phlogiston they could not be used. Scientists now know this idea is wrong."
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      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "An ancient Greek idea of energy, which was used up when things burned. For example, burning wood would use up the phlogiston in the wood and the air (which actually had no oxygen). When the air or the wood had lost their phlogiston they could not be used. Scientists now know this idea is wrong."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
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      ]
    }
  ],
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}

Download raw JSONL data for phlogiston meaning in English (0.6kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-24 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-04-20 using wiktextract (813e02a and ea19a0a). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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