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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
catalysis
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Enzymatic catalysis involves the breaking and making of different chemical bonds.
▪ However, nobody had made the conclusive step of considering the consequences of this, namely the chain of muon catalysis reactions.
▪ Linkage of the addition reaction to the molecular mechanism of catalysis therefore depends on demonstration of sequence specificity.
▪ Thus, residue Cys 177 is identified as essential for catalysis.
▪ X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic techniques continue to provide important clues, leading towards an understanding of the remarkable specificity of enzymatic catalysis.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Catalysis

Catalysis \Ca*tal"y*sis\, n.; pl. Catalyse.[ML., fr. Gr. ? dissolution, fr. ? to destroy, dissolve; kata` down, wholly + ? to loose.]

  1. Dissolution; degeneration; decay. [R.]

    Sad catalysis and declension of piety.
    --Evelyn.

  2. (Chem.)

    1. A process by which a chemical reaction is accelerated in the presence of certain agents which were formerly believed to exert an influence by mere contact. It is now believed that such reactions are attended with the formation of an intermediate compound or compounds, so that by alternate composition and decomposition the agent is apparenty left unchanged; as, the catalysis of making ether from alcohol by means of sulphuric acid; or catalysis in the action of enzymes (as diastase, or ptyalin) on starch.

    2. The catalytic force.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
catalysis

1650s, "dissolution," from Latinized form of Greek katalysis "dissolution, a dissolving" (of governments, military units, etc.), from katalyein "to dissolve," from kata- "down" (or "completely"), see cata-, + lyein "to loosen" (see lose). Chemical sense "change caused by an agent which itself remains unchanged" is attested from 1836, introduced by Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius (1779-1848).

Wiktionary
catalysis

n. (context chemistry English) The increase of the rate of a chemical reaction induced by a catalyst.

WordNet
catalysis
  1. n. acceleration of a chemical reaction induced the presence of material that is chemically unchanged at the end of the reaction; "of the top 50 commodity chemicals, 30 are created directly by catalysis and another 6 are made from raw materials that are catalytically produced" [syn: contact action]

  2. [also: catalyses (pl)]

Wikipedia
Catalysis

Catalysis is the increase in the rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of an additional substance called a catalyst . With a catalyst, reactions occur faster and require less activation energy. Because catalysts are not consumed in the catalyzed reaction, they can continue to catalyze the reaction of further quantities of reactant. Often only tiny amounts are required.

Usage examples of "catalysis".

Earth had rebounded from its century of institutionalized technophobia and, with the advent of fusion, strong-force catalysis, and other nuclear technologies that had revolutionized just about everything from space transportation to materials extraction and processing, humanity was finally bursting from its home world to pick up again at what should have been the next step back in the years when the Apollo monuments were left on the Moon.

Their owner is an agalmic entrepreneur, a posthuman genius locii of the net who catalyses value wherever he goes, leaving money trees growing in his footprints.

We call this catalysis, catalytic action, the action of presence, or by what learned name we choose.

Viewed through C-K's philosophies, they stood near the catalysis point of the Prigoginic Leap that brought life itself into being.

I don't believe we'll be able to build up enough mass to insulate against their negative catalysis ray.

And the superconducting niobium alloy showed, in the unbroken lengths, cavities—parts eaten away by endothermic catalysis.

The hydrogen-helium direct conversion is the normal source of stellar energy, but under certain conditions the carbon catalysis adds its weight, hastening the process, speeding it up, heating up the star.