Definition

• noun: a chemical element that forms diamonds and coal and that is found in petroleum and in all living plants and animals
• noun: a nonmetallic chiefly tetravalent element found native (as in diamond and graphite) or as a constituent of coal, petroleum, and asphalt, of limestone and other 'carbonates', and of organic compounds or obtained artificially in varying degrees of purity especially as carbon black, lampblack, activated carbon, charcoal, and coke
• synonyms: compounds of carbon, carbon monoxide