Thesaurus: silicon

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1. n. A nonmetalic element analogous to carbon. It always occurs combined in nature, and is artificially obtained in the free state, usually as a dark brown amorphous powder, or as a dark crystalline substance with a meetallic luster. Its oxide is silica, or common quartz, and in this form, or as silicates, it is, next to oxygen, the most abundant element of the earth's crust. Silicon is characteristically the element of the mineral kingdom, as carbon is of the organic world. Symbol Si. Atomic weight 28. Called also silicium.
2. n. a tetravalent nonmetallic element; next to oxygen it is the most abundant element in the earth's crust; occurs in clay and feldspar and granite and quartz and sand; used as a semiconductor in transistors
3. A nonmetalic element analogous to carbon. It always occurs combined in nature, and is artificially obtained in the free state, usually as a dark brown amorphous powder, or as a dark crystalline substance with a meetallic luster. Its oxide is silica, or common quartz, and in this form, or as silicates, it is, next to oxygen, the most abundant element of the earth's crust. Silicon is characteristically the element of the mineral kingdom, as carbon is of the organic world. Symbol Si. Atomic weight 28. Called also silicium.
4. A nonmetalic element analogous to carbon. It always occurscombined in nature, and is artificially obtained in the free state,usually as a dark brown amorphous powder, or as a dark crystallinesubstance with a meetallic luster. Its oxide is silica, or commonquartz, and in this form, or as silicates, it is, next to oxygen, themost abundant element of the earth's crust. Silicon ischaracteristically the element of the mineral kingdom, as carbon isof the organic world. Symbol Si. Atomic weight 28. Called alsosilicium.
5. n:100 n. a tetravalent nonmetallic element; next to oxygen it is the most abundant element in the earth's crust; occurs in clay and feldspar and granite and quartz and sand; used as a semiconductor in transistors