carbonic acid

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noun

the acid, H2CO3, formed when carbon dioxide dissolves in water, known in the form of its salts and esters, the carbonates.

Origin of carbonic acid

First recorded in 1785–95

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for carbonic acid

What would have escaped up a chimney as carbonic-acid gas is confined here as a solid, and fire can yet liberate it.
Trees Worth Knowing|Julia Ellen Rogers
The most amazing fact is that this "too, too solid flesh" of the tree body was all made of dirty water and carbonic-acid gas.
Trees Worth Knowing|Julia Ellen Rogers
Plants take in carbonic-acid gas through their leaves, and send the oxygen back into the air ready for us to use again.
First Book in Physiology and Hygiene|J.H. Kellogg
This is carbonic-acid gas, which is a poison and will destroy life.
First Book in Physiology and Hygiene|J.H. Kellogg

The "Valley of Death," in the island of Java, is simply the crater of an extinct volcano, filled with carbonic-acid gas.
One Thousand Secrets of Wise and Rich Men Revealed|C. A. Bogardus

British Dictionary definitions for carbonic acid

carbonic acid

noun

a weak acid formed when carbon dioxide combines with water: obtained only in aqueous solutions, never in the pure state. Formula: H 2 CO 3

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