crystallography

noun

crys·​tal·​log·​ra·​phy ˌkri-stə-ˈlä-grə-fē 

: a science that deals with the forms and structures of crystals

crystallographer

ˌkri-stə-ˈlä-grə-fər 

noun

Examples of crystallography in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Transformers made a huge impact in life sciences with Deep Mind's AlphaFold, a groundbreaking way to predict protein structures based on amino acid sequences (something not text) in minutes, a task that previously took scientists months in the labs via X-ray crystallography. —Harini Gopalakrishnan, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024

At that time, the structure of about 200,000 proteins had been determined by crystallography, costing billions of dollars. —Marc Zimmer, Discover Magazine, 10 June 2024

Scientists have made tremendous strides in determining the three-dimensional structures of these target proteins through x-ray crystallography and NMR. —Chuck Brooks, Forbes, 22 Oct. 2024

To identify the actual structures, researchers typically turn to x-ray crystallography. —Byrobert F. Service, science.org, 1 Aug. 2024

Word History

Etymology

crystallo- + -graphy (after French cristallographie or New Latin crystallographia)

First Known Use

1784, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

crystallography

noun

crys·​tal·​log·​ra·​phy ˌkris-tə-ˈläg-rə-fē 

: a science that deals with the form and structure of crystals

crystallographer

-fər 

noun

Medical Definition

crystallography

noun

crys·​tal·​log·​ra·​phy ˌkris-tə-ˈläg-rə-fē 

plural crystallographies

: a science that deals with the forms and structures of crystals see x-ray crystallography

crystallographer

-fər 

noun

crystallographic

-lə-ˈgraf-ik 

adjective

crystallographically

-ik(ə-)lē 

adverb