vanadium Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a soft silvery white toxic metallic element used in steel alloys; it occurs in several complex minerals including carnotite and vanadinite
    V; atomic number 23.

WordNet

Va*na"di*um noun
Etymology
NL., fr. Icel. Vanadis, a surname of the Scandinavian goddess Freya.
Definitions
  1. (Chem.) A rare element of the nitrogen-phosphorus group, found combined, in vanadates, in certain minerals, and reduced as an infusible, grayish-white metallic powder. It is intermediate between the metals and the non-metals, having both basic and acid properties. Sumbol V (or Vd, rarely). Atomic weight 51.2.

Webster 1913