noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
tăn'tələm
/ˈtæntələm/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:T AE1 N T AH0 L AH0 M
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A chemical element (symbol Ta) with atomic number 73: a rare, hard, blue-gray, lustrous transition metal that is highly corrosion-resistant.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
a hard grey lustrous metallic element that is highly resistant to corrosion; occurs in niobite and fergusonite and tantalite
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Ta, atomic number 73
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: metallic element, metal
History
Etymology
A New Latin word derived by Swedish chemist Anders Gustaf Ekeberg in 1802, from Latin Tantalus, named after Tantalus, alluding to the element's incapacity to absorb acid. See -ium.
Across languages
Translations
74 source translations are retained for this English entry.
