: a gray-white heavy high-melting ductile hard polyvalent metallic element that resembles chromium and molybdenum in many of its properties and is used especially in carbide materials and electrical components (such as lamp filaments) and in hardening alloys (such as steel) see Chemical Elements Table
Examples of tungsten in a Sentence
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Crawley solved the problem using small tungsten or LED spotlights to stand in for small portholes by casting small pools of light for Brody and the camera to cross through, but kept the vast majority of the space in a moody darkness.
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Chris O'Falt, IndieWire, 23 Dec. 2024
China also accounts for nearly 90 percent of magnesium production, in particular, and over 80 percent of worldwide production of tungsten, a metal critical for military products such as armor-piercing rounds and a range of civilian applications, from industrial cutting tools to microchips.
—Matt Robison, Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2024
And the commerce ministry and customs administration jointly announced fresh export controls on a handful of rare metals, including tungsten, indium and molybdenum.
—John Ruwitch, NPR, 4 Feb. 2025
REEs in Greenland include materials such as graphite, used in electric vehicles and steelmaking, nickel, zinc, gold, tungsten and many more.
—Kristen Waggoner, Newsweek, 21 Jan. 2025
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Chris O'Falt, IndieWire, 23 Dec. 2024
China also accounts for nearly 90 percent of magnesium production, in particular, and over 80 percent of worldwide production of tungsten, a metal critical for military products such as armor-piercing rounds and a range of civilian applications, from industrial cutting tools to microchips.
—Matt Robison, Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2024
And the commerce ministry and customs administration jointly announced fresh export controls on a handful of rare metals, including tungsten, indium and molybdenum.
—John Ruwitch, NPR, 4 Feb. 2025
REEs in Greenland include materials such as graphite, used in electric vehicles and steelmaking, nickel, zinc, gold, tungsten and many more.
—Kristen Waggoner, Newsweek, 21 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tungsten
Cite this Entry
“Tungsten.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tungsten. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
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Etymology
from Swedish tungsten, literally "heavy stone," from tung "heavy" and sten "stone"
Medical Definition
tungsten
noun
tung·sten
ˈtəŋ-stən 
: a gray-white heavy high-melting ductile hard polyvalent metallic element that resembles chromium and molybdenum in many of its properties and is used especially for electrical purposes and in hardening alloys (as steel)
—symbol W
called also wolfram
see Chemical Elements TableLove words? Need even more definitions?
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