phlogiston

Definitions

The hypothetical fiery principle formerly assumed to be a necessary constituent of combustible bodies and to be given up by them in burning.

historical, uncountable, usually

Equivalents

Examples

“[…] air was universally reputed to be a simple or elementary body. It was liable, according to the phlogistians, to vitiation, by the addition to it of phlogiston[…] being more or less phlogisticated, according to the degree of its power to support⟳ respiration and combustion.”

“Stahl argued that phlogiston could explain⟳ combustion, a central concern⟳ of eighteenth-century chemistry.”

CEFR level