stearic acid

American  

noun

Chemistry.

1. a colorless, waxlike, sparingly water-soluble, odorless solid, C 1 8 H 3 6 O 2 , the most common fatty acid, occurring as the glyceride in tallow and other animal fats and in some animal oils: used chiefly in the manufacture of soaps, stearates, candles, cosmetics, and in medicine in suppositories and pill coatings.

---

stearic acid British  

noun

1. a colourless odourless insoluble waxy carboxylic acid used for making candles and suppositories; octadecanoic acid. Formula: CH 3 (CH 2 ) 16 COOH See also stearin

---

stearic acid Scientific  

/ stē-ăr′ĭk,stîr′ĭk /

1. A colorless, odorless, waxlike fatty acid occurring in animal and vegetable fats and used in making soaps, candles, lubricants, and other products. Chemical formula: C ₁₈ H ₃₆ O ₂ .

---

Etymology

Origin of stearic acid

First recorded in 1825–35

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stearic acid

Dryer sheets don’t magically make clothes inherently softer, they make them feel softer by coating them with a softening agent, like stearic acid.

From Slate ● Apr. 17, 2023

Dark chocolate is higher in fat than milk chocolate, but much of it is a combination of the heart-healthy monounsaturated kind and stearic acid, a type of saturated fat that doesn’t raise cholesterol.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 21, 2022

Animal fats with stearic acid and palmitic acid contained in meat, and the fat with butyric acid contained in butter, are examples of saturated fats.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 25, 2013

But the same kind of evidence indicates that other saturated fatty acids such as stearic acid, found prominently in dark chocolate but also in meat, and lauric acid, found in coconut, may be innocuous.

From US News ● Mar. 18, 2013

If too alkaline more stearic acid is added, if too acid more potash lye from that previously reserved.

From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by E. G. Thomssen

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---