How to Use phosphine in a Sentence

phosphine

noun
  • That’s something that the team has not yet done with phosphine.
    — Nadia Drake, National Geographic, 14 Sep. 2020
  • Greaves and her team tried to figure out where all that phosphine is coming from.
    — Sid Perkins, Science | AAAS, 14 Sep. 2020
  • Sure enough, that phosphine fingerprint showed up again in the new data.
    — Eva Botkin-Kowacki, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Sep. 2020
  • On Earth, there are only two ways phosphine can be formed, study authors said.
    — Seth Borenstein, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 Sep. 2020
  • Seager worked on a team that explored whether phosphine on Venus could be a sign of life.
    — WIRED, 11 Sep. 2022
  • Some researchers said their own analyses turned up empty for phosphine.
    — Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 18 July 2021
  • But Venus' clouds are very acidic, which should quickly destroy phosphine.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 14 Sep. 2020
  • On our planet, phosphine is produced only by life.
    — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Now, a rare molecule known as phosphine has been observed in Venus’s clouds.
    — National Geographic, 30 Sep. 2020
  • On Venus, however, there isn't enough heat or pressure for phosphine to form this way.
    — Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 14 Sep. 2020
  • And on Earth, that gas, known as phosphine, is produced by microorganisms.
    — Eva Botkin-Kowacki, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Sep. 2020
  • Others found hints of phosphine buried in decades-old observations.
    — Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 18 July 2021
  • But the scientists weren't able to determine how the phosphine was produced.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 14 Sep. 2020
  • Another gas at the top of the list is phosphine, a phosphorous atom bound to three hydrogens.
    — David Grinspoon, Scientific American, 26 Sep. 2020
  • The claim of phosphine detection earlier this year has helped put Venus in the spotlight.
    — Adam Mann, Wired, 15 Dec. 2020
  • On Earth, phosphine—a toxic gas—is produced by microorganisms.
    — Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2020
  • This is where the telescopes detected the signature of phosphine.
    — Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2020
  • On Earth, phosphine is produced by microorganisms—why not on this other planet too?
    — Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 3 June 2021
  • The surface is then dosed with phosphine gas, which adsorbs to the surface only in places where the silicon is exposed.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Put simply, phosphine shouldn’t be in the Venusian atmosphere.
    — Nadia Drake, National Geographic, 14 Sep. 2020
  • This is one of the reasons why the claimed detection of phosphine on Venus is so controversial.
    — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Last fall, researchers said the presence of phosphine in the planet's atmosphere could indicate life.
    — Katrina Miller, Wired, 14 July 2021
  • As scientists look for signs of life in the outer solar system, the debate over phosphine on Venus is still running hot.
    — NBC News, 13 July 2021
  • And their findings have been casting doubt over the original claim of inexplicable amounts of phosphine.
    — Paola Rosa-Aquino, Popular Science, 2 Nov. 2020
  • The discovery of phosphine on Venus could mean that there are tiny, floating lifeforms on the second-closest planet to our sun.
    — ExpressNews.com, 14 Sep. 2020
  • The researchers argued that Venus’ phosphine levels are too high to be geologic in origin.
    — NBC News, 29 June 2021
  • The researchers argued that Venus' phosphine levels are too high to be geologic in origin.
    — Fox News, 29 June 2021
  • Last year, scientists claimed to have found traces of the chemical phosphine—an indicator of life—in the planet's thick, acidic clouds.
    — Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 3 June 2021
  • An inspection found traces of the insecticide phosphine gas on towels, masks and swab samples taken from the hotel.
    — CBS News, 26 June 2026
  • And other researchers, spurred by the phosphine mystery, dream of bypassing the space agency entirely.
    — Charlie Wood, Popular Science, 1 Oct. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'phosphine.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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