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carbon monoxide

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noun
a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas, CO, that burns with a pale-blue flame, produced when carbon burns with insufficient air: used chiefly in organic synthesis, metallurgy, and in the preparation of metal carbonyls, as nickel carbonyl.

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Origin of carbon monoxide

First recorded in 1870–75
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use carbon monoxide in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for carbon monoxide

carbon monoxide

noun
a colourless odourless poisonous flammable gas formed when carbon compounds burn in insufficient air and produced by the action of steam on hot carbon: used as a reducing agent in metallurgy and as a fuel. Formula: CO
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

Scientific definitions for carbon monoxide

carbon monoxide

A colorless, odorless gas formed when a compound containing carbon burns incompletely because there is not enough oxygen. It is present in the exhaust gases of automobile engines and is very poisonous. Chemical formula: CO.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for carbon monoxide

carbon monoxide

A compound made up of molecules containing one carbon atom and one oxygen atom.

notes for carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is usually formed when materials burn; it is found, for example, in automobile exhaust.

notes for carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that can be fatal to human beings if inhaled.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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