CALVIN Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com (original) (raw)

noun

  1. John Jean Chauvin or Caulvin, 1509–64, French theologian and reformer in Switzerland: leader in the Protestant Reformation.
  2. Melvin, 1911–97, U.S. chemist: Nobel Prize 1961.
  3. a male given name: from a Latin word meaning “bald.”

Calvin British

/ ˈkælvɪn /

noun

  1. John, original name Jean Cauvin, Caulvin, or Chauvin. 1509–64, French theologian: a leader of the Protestant Reformation in France and Switzerland, establishing the first presbyterian government in Geneva. His theological system is described in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)
  2. Melvin. 1911–97, US chemist, noted particularly for his research on photosynthesis: Nobel prize for chemistry 1961

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Calvin Scientific

/ kăl′vĭn /

  1. American chemist who won a Nobel Prize in 1961 for determining the chemical reactions that occur during photosynthesis. This series of reactions is now known as the Calvin cycle.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Nottinghamshire left-armer Liam Patterson-White, Sussex off-spinner Jack Carson and Northants all-rounder Calvin Harrison are all respected in county cricket.

FromBBC • May 11, 2026

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The company announced the selection Wednesday, capping an extensive search process that kicked off at the end of last year after Lululemon announced that Calvin McDonald was departing.

FromThe Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

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Stromberg makes Calvin seem not only reasonable but surprisingly sensitive.

FromLos Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2026

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"It's like if the Manhattan Project announced the nuclear bomb within a cute little Calvin and Hobbes cartoon."

FromBarron's • Apr. 10, 2026

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When Calvin stopped replying to his letters, Servetus, based in Vienna, continued to send a stream of increasingly vituperative correspondence.

From"The Scientists" by John Gribbin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.