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Catalyst vs Mercenary - What's the difference?

catalyst | mercenary |

As nouns the difference between catalyst and mercenary

is that catalyst is (chemistry) a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process while mercenary is a person employed to fight in an armed conflict who is not a member of the state or military group for which they are fighting and whose prime or sole motivation is private gain.

As an adjective mercenary is

motivated by private gain.

catalyst

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (chemistry) A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process.
  • * 1988 , Biochemistry , 3rd edition, page 177
    • Enzymes, the catalysts of biological systems, are remarkable molecular devices that determine the pattern of chemical transformations.
  • Someone or something that encourages progress or change.
    • Economic development and integration are working as a catalyst for peace.
  • * 1978 , Ernest George Schwiebert, Trout , Volume 2
    • It was a morning baptized by my first cup of coffee, freshly brewed over a gravel-bar fire, while they celebrated with the stronger catalyst of sour-mash whiskey in their fishing-vest cups.
  • * 2004 , Michael B. Oren, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the making of the modern Middle East , page 76
    • Israel's fear for the reactor—rather than Egypt's of it—was the greater catalyst for war.
  • * 2006 , The Freedom Writers, with Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them , Diary 74
    • Rosa Parks was a true catalyst' for change and she was only one person. Hearing about Rosa Parks and her protest showed me that there is hope for me and all the students in Ms. G's classes to truly be ' catalysts for change.
  • * '>citation
  • (literature) An inciting incident which that sets the successive conflict into motion.
  • (automotive) A catalytic converter.

    • Synonyms

    * (Someone or something that encourages progress or change) stimulus, straw that stirs the drink

    Antonyms

    * (something that encourages change) inhibitor * (something that enhances or accelerates) dampener

    Derived terms

    * catalyse, catalyze * catalysis * catalytic

    See also

    * enzyme

    mercenary

    English

    (wikipedia mercenary)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Motivated by private gain.
  • * Dryden
    • For God forbid I should my papers blot / With mercenary lines, with servile pen.

    Synonyms

    * (motivated by private gain) greedy, venal

    Noun

    (mercenaries)
  • A person employed to fight in an armed conflict who is not a member of the state or military group for which they are fighting and whose prime or sole motivation is private gain.

    • Synonyms

    * See

    See also

    * soldier