Meanings
- not comparablechemistryPertaining to the element phosphorus; containing phosphorus, especially in its higher valency (5).First known use 18th c.
An old man to whom a few drops of phosphoric ether had been administered experienced repeated and imperious venereal wants.
1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 202Synonyms: phosphorous, phosphorous
- figurativelyliterarynot comparablePertaining to a phosphor; phosphorescent.First known use 18th c.
I refer to the light in the tail of a glow-worm […] first, that it is phosphoric; secondly, that its use is to attract the male insect.
1802, William Paley, Natural Theology, section XIX1 more example
[T]he gulf beneath blended in the darkness, till but one atmosphere seemed both above and below, sometimes illumined by flashes of phosphoric light—meteors that might have suited sea or sky, and, broken by two or three ridges of foam, seen in obscurity, like lines of snow.
1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 197–198
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivePertaining to the element phosphorus; containing phosphorus, especially in its higher valency (5).
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivecontaining or characteristic of phosphorus
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian фосфорен
- фосфорен (fosforen)pertaining to phosphorus
Catalan fosfòric
- fosfòricpertaining to phosphorus
Danish fosforholdig, fosforlignende
- fosforholdigpertaining to phosphorus
- fosforlignenderesembling phosphorus
Finnish fosfori-
- fosfori-pertaining to phosphorus
French phosphorique
- phosphoriquepertaining to phosphorus
German phosphorhaltig
- phosphorhaltigpertaining to phosphorus
Hindi भास्विक
- भास्विक (bhāsvik)pertaining to phosphorus
Italian fosforico
- fosforicopertaining to phosphorus
Portuguese fosfórico
- fosfóricopertaining to phosphorus
Romanian fosforic, fosforic
- fosforicpertaining to phosphorus
- fosforicresembling phosphorus
Spanish fosfórico
- fosfóricopertaining to phosphorus
Turkish fosforik, fosforik
- fosforikpertaining to phosphorus
- fosforikresembling phosphorus
- fosforsuresembling phosphorus
- fosforumsuresembling phosphorus
Cite this entry
phosphoric. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phosphoric
“phosphoric.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phosphoric. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “phosphoric,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phosphoric.
Source: phosphoric on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.