You searched for: “catalyst”
catalyst (s) (noun), catalysts (pl)
1. Someone or something that quickly makes certain things happen or causes events to take place: The destruction of the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001, was the catalyst for U.S. attacks against terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.

The first successful heart transplant was the catalyst which started the widespread medical development in the field of cardiology.

2. A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any change: All enzymes are catalysts and the human body has thousands of enzymes, each of which is specific in causing or accelerating changes in other substances within all living organisms.

Enzymes are important catalysts during digestion and many other functions in the body.

A stimulus or speeding up a result.
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This entry is located in the following units: cata-, cat-, cath-, kata- (page 3) lyso-, lyo-, -lysin, -lys-, -lysis, -lytic, -lyt-, -lyz- (page 2)
zymo-, zym-, -zyme, -zymic
(Greek: ferment, fermentation; leavenl; a leavening agent, a leavening catalyst)
Word Entries at Get Words: “catalyst”
catalyst, catalysts
Someone or something that acts as a stimulus to speed up a desired result. (1)
This entry is located in the following unit: Word a Day Revisited Index of Cartoons Illustrating the Meanings of Words (page 21)