carbon tetrachloride

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noun

a colorless, nonflammable, vaporous, toxic liquid, CCl4, usually produced by the reaction of chlorine with carbon disulfide, methane, or other carbon-containing compounds: used mainly as a refrigerant, fire extinguisher, cleaning fluid, solvent, and insecticide.

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Also called tetrachloromethane, perchloromethane.

Origin of carbon tetrachloride

First recorded in 1900–05

Words nearby carbon tetrachloride

carbon sequestration, carbon sink, carbon star, carbon steel, carbon tax, carbon tetrachloride, carbon tissue, carbon trading, carbon value, carbon well, carbonyl

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use carbon tetrachloride in a sentence

It reacts very readily with oxygen by burning smokelessly, with carbon dioxide and water as its byproducts.
Methane on Mars: Life or Just Gas?|Matthew R. Francis|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Methane (chemical formula CH4) is one of the simplest hydrocarbons, which literally means “containing hydrogen and carbon.”
Methane on Mars: Life or Just Gas?|Matthew R. Francis|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Al Gore, however, sold his Current TV channel to Al Jazeera, which is funded by the royal family of famously carbon neutral Qatar.
Up To A Point: What We Really Need Is a Nobel War Prize|P. J. O’Rourke|October 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Other psychiatrists attempted to treat schizophrenia with carbon dioxide gas and artificially-induced comas.
Schizophrenia Isn’t One Disorder but Eight|Samantha Allen|September 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST

And “stinking rich” is the smell of zero carbon emissions at eco-friendly tech company campuses.
Up To a Point: Robber Barons Make Way For Robber Nerds|P. J. O’Rourke|August 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
What are a few paltry, lumps of crystallised carbon compared to a galaxy of a million million suns?
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
The carbon dioxid evolved distends the stomach, and its outline can easily be determined by percussion.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Carbon is the largest constituent of plants, and forms, in round numbers, about 50 per cent of their weight when dry.
Elements of Agricultural Chemistry|Thomas Anderson
The particular phenomena of vegetation also afford abundant evidence that humus cannot be the only source of carbon.
Elements of Agricultural Chemistry|Thomas Anderson
The composition of animal caseine differs from this principally in the amount of carbon.
Elements of Agricultural Chemistry|Thomas Anderson

British Dictionary definitions for carbon tetrachloride

carbon tetrachloride

noun

a colourless volatile nonflammable sparingly soluble liquid made from chlorine and carbon disulphide; tetrachloromethane. It is used as a solvent, cleaning fluid, and insecticide. Formula: CCl 4

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 tetrachloride

carbon tetrachloride

A colorless, nonflammable, poisonous liquid having a strong odor. It is used to make refrigerants, aerosol propellants, and pharmaceuticals. It is also used in petroleum refining and as a solvent. Until the mid-1960s, it was used as a cleaning fluid and in fire extinguishers. Chemical formula: CCl4.