noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of a class of allotropes of carbon having hollow molecules whose atoms lie at the vertices of a polyhedron having 12 pentagonal and 2 or more hexagonal faces.
2. 2
   a form of carbon having a large molecule consisting of an empty cage of sixty or more carbon atoms wordnet
3. 3
   Any closed-cage compound having twenty or more carbon atoms consisting entirely of 3-coordinate carbon atoms.
4. 4
   The class of carbon allotropes consisting of tubular carbon molecules (carbon nanotubes) and spheroidal carbon molecules (traditional fullerenes). broadly

Synonyms

All synonyms

buckyballcarbyneq carbon

Etymology

After Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome, + -ene.

Related phrases

endohedral fullerenecarbon nanotubes

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.