calcium carbonate

noun

: a compound CaCO₃ found in nature as calcite and aragonite and in plant ashes, bones, and shells and used especially in making lime and Portland cement and as a gastric antacid

Examples of calcium carbonate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In fact, nacre is roughly 3,000 times tougher than its calcium carbonate building blocks. —Caitlin Kennedy, Scientific American, 25 Apr. 2026

Egg shells do have plenty of calcium carbonate, an essential mineral for plant's cell structure and soil health. —Lauren David, Southern Living, 24 Apr. 2026

The gestation of Raw took several years because Kesselman was obsessed with creating a new type of paper — thin, translucent and brown that contained no additives or calcium carbonate (chalk). —Steve Bloom, Rolling Stone, 20 Apr. 2026

My goal was to inspect calcium carbonate rocks, found near methane seeps at the base of the canyon walls, in search of methane-eating microbes. —Jeffrey Marlow, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1868, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for calcium carbonate

• borosilicate
• decontaminate
• deoxycholate
• deteriorate
• differentiate
• diisocyanate
• dinoflagellate
• excommunicate
• incapacitate
• insubordinate
• intercorporate
• interpenetrate

Kids Definition

calcium carbonate

noun

: a solid substance found in nature as limestone and marble and in plant ashes, bones, and shells and used especially in making lime and portland cement

Medical Definition

calcium carbonate

noun

: a calcium salt CaCO₃ that is found in limestone, chalk, marble, plant ashes, bones, and many shells, that is obtained also as a white precipitate by passing carbon dioxide into a suspension of calcium hydroxide in water, and that is used in dentifrices and in pharmaceuticals as an antacid and to supplement bodily calcium stores