nitroglycerin

American  

[nahy-truh-glis-er-in] / ˌnaɪ trəˈglɪs ər ɪn /

Also nitroglycerine

noun

Chemistry, Pharmacology.

1. a colorless, thick, oily, flammable, highly explosive, slightly water-soluble liquid, C 3 H 5 N 3 O 9 , prepared from glycerol with nitric and sulfuric acids: used chiefly as a constituent of dynamite and other explosives, in rocket propellants, and in medicine as a vasodilator in the treatment of angina pectoris.

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nitroglycerin Scientific  

/ nī′trō-glĭs′ər-ĭn /

1. A thick, pale-yellow, explosive liquid formed by treating glycerin with nitric and sulfuric acids. It is used to make dynamite and in medicine to dilate blood vessels. Chemical formula: C ₃ H ₅ N ₃ O ₉ .

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Etymology

Origin of nitroglycerin

First recorded in 1855–60; nitro- + glycerin

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nitroglycerin

Roy Scheider leads an international cast as one of four outlaws who accept $10,000 and legal citizenship for the job of driving nitroglycerin on hazardous South American roads to an oil well 200 miles away.

From New York Times ● Aug. 7, 2023

And assembling a courtroom mosaic to portray a capital defendant is like handling nitroglycerin.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 8, 2022

And that was before the idiotic failure to call 911 or at least grab the emergency nitroglycerin pill she knew was in the bedside drawer.

From Salon ● Dec. 15, 2021

The explosion of nitroglycerin is a chemical change because the gases produced are very different kinds of matter from the original substance.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

After lowering a torpedo filled with nitroglycerin into the belly of the earth, the muddied workers would detonate it, occasionally turning up a fragment of an ancient American Indian spear or an arrowhead.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

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Related Words

• ammunition
• bomb
• booby trap
• detonator
• dynamite
• gunpowder
• mine
• missile
• munition
• powder

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