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Glite Dictionary
paramagnet

paramagnet

9.9
A material that becomes magnetic only while a magnet is near
  • noun
  • /ˈpærəˌmæɡnɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : paramagneto
  • And there's a phase transition between a paramagnet at high temperature and a ferromagnet at low temperatures.

Examples

  • During the experiment, the team noticed that the paramagnet lost its magnetization once the external field was removed.

  • Scientists studied how different materials behave as a paramagnet in strong magnetic fields.

  • Iron is an example of a paramagnet, which exhibits magnetization when exposed to a magnetic field.

How Magnetic

ferromagnet
  • Specialized
8.1
paramagnet
  • Specialized
9.9
diamagnet
  • Specialized
9.9
nonmagnetic
  • Specialized
5.1

Surface Forms

paramagnet singular
paramagnets plural

Morphology

paramagnet = magnet (opaque) = para + magnet

The form is compositional as para- + magnet, but the specialized scientific meaning is not directly predictable from the base word for an average learner.

Etymology

Paramagnet comes from the prefix para- meaning 'beside' or 'near' and the word magnet. A helpful image is that a paramagnet only becomes magnetic when it is 'near' or next to a magnetic field, so its magnetism appears only alongside that external field — just like parallel uses para- to mean 'side by side'.