1988, Lubert StryerBiochemistry, 3rd edition, page 177Enzymes, 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 2It 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 76Israel'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 74Rosa 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.
(literature) An inciting incident which that sets the successive conflict into motion.
