barite

noun

bar·​ite ˈber-ˌīt 

: barium sulfate occurring as a mineral

Examples of barite in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Doctors regularly use barite, a sulfate mineral, as a contrast medium when taking X-rays of their patients. —Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 June 2023

Because the barite gave the ichthyosaur’s bones a bright glow, the team was able to observe anatomical features that had been overlooked or obscured. —Jack Tamisiea, New York Times, 1 June 2023

Oda was a perfect contender for X-rays, because over time, barite had completely replaced the creature’s bones. —Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 June 2023

This contrast was a result in part of the fact that the material inside the animal’s bones had been entirely replaced by barite, a sulfate mineral that is used today as a radiographic contrast agent for medical exams. —Jack Tamisiea, New York Times, 1 June 2023

There could be challenges with scaling up production commercially, including the need to increase barite mining, but researchers believe the ultrawhite paint could someday reduce the use of air conditioning by up to 70% in hot cities. —Lindsey McGinnis, The Christian Science Monitor, 17 Dec. 2021

Barium is obtained chiefly from the mineral barite consisting of barium-sulfate. —David Bressan, Forbes, 4 July 2021

China supplies half of the U.S.’s barite, which is used in the hydraulic fracturing that revolutionized American oil production. —Alistair MacDonald, WSJ, 5 Oct. 2020

The Astro Gallery of Gems on Fifth Avenue in New York attracts famous clients with its $30,000 pieces of barite and six-figure specimens of mesolite. —Fortune, 31 May 2020

Word History

Etymology

alteration (by conformation to -ite entry 1) of baryte, French form of New Latin barytes "barium sulfate," alteration (probably after Greek barýtēs "heaviness, weight," derivative of barýs "heavy") of French barote, coinage based on Greek báros "heaviness, weight"; the mineral so called from the relatively heavy weight of samples — more at grave entry 2

Note: The name barote was introduced by the French politician and chemist Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau in "Mémoire sur les dénominations chimiques, la nécessité d'en perfectionner le système, et les règles pour y parvenir," Observations et mémoires sur la physique, sur la histoire naturelle, et sur les arts et métiers, tome 19 (janvier-juin, 1782), p. 376. It was meant as a replacement for compounded names for the substance, as terra ponderosa, "ponderous earth." The name barote was latinized as barytes, presumably conformed to Greek barýtēs, by Richard Kirwan in Elements of Mineralogy (London, 1784), p. 5, and apparently independently by Torbern Bergman in Meditationes de systemate fossilium naturali (Florence, 1784), p. 111. The form baryte is used in French in Morveau, Lavoisier, Bertholet and Fourcroy's Méthode de nomenclature chimique (Paris, 1787), p. 64.

First Known Use

1837, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

barite

noun

bar·​ite ˈba(ə)r-ˌīt 

ˈbe(ə)r-

: a white, yellow, or colorless mineral consisting of barium sulfate and occurring in crystals or as a mass