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Noun: amalgam  u'mal-gum
  1. A combination or blend of diverse things
    "his theory is an amalgam of earlier ideas"
     
  2. An alloy of mercury with another metal (usually silver) used by dentists to fill cavities in teeth; except for iron and platinum all metals dissolve in mercury and chemists refer to the resulting mercury mixtures as amalgams
    "Despite controversy, dental amalgam remains a common material for tooth fillings";
    - dental amalgam

Derived forms: amalgams

Type of: alloy, combination, metal

Encyclopedia: Amalgam, Gauteng