From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcarboncar‧bon /ˈkɑːbən $ ˈkɑːr-/ ●●○ noun 1 [uncountable]HCE a chemical substance that exists in a pure form as diamonds, graphite etc, or in an impure form as coal, petrol etc. It is a chemical element: symbol C2 BD[countable, uncountable] carbon paper3 [countable]BD a carbon copy(1)
Examples from the Corpus
carbon• The plant material itself is converted to black carbon.• The more carbon, the more mess.• This same basic cycle could also operate on the interconversion of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide plus oxygen.• But in practice, modern Earthly life is a protege of water, as much as it is of carbon.• The platinum catalyses the reaction of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons with air to give carbon dioxide and water vapour.• In the other two mechanisms, buckminsterfullerene is formed by a combination of specific precursor carbon clusters.• The best way to get that carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is to warm the entire planet.Origin carbon (1700-1800) French carbone, from Latin carbo “burning coal, charcoal” 