fatty acid

American  

noun

Biochemistry.

1. any of a class of aliphatic acids, especially palmitic, stearic, or oleic acid, consisting of a long hydrocarbon chain ending in a carboxyl group that bonds to glycerol to form a fat.

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fatty acid British  

noun

1. any of a class of aliphatic carboxylic acids, such as palmitic acid, stearic acid, and oleic acid, that form part of a lipid molecule

2. another name for carboxylic acid, used esp of a naturally occurring one

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fatty acid Scientific  

/ făt′ē /

1. Any of a large group of organic acids, especially those found in animal and vegetable fats and oils. Fatty acids are mainly composed of long chains of hydrocarbons ending in a carboxyl group. A fatty acid is saturated when the bonds between carbon atoms are all single bonds. It is unsaturated when any of these bonds is a double bond.

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Etymology

Origin of fatty acid

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

Polyunsaturated fatty acids, found in Mediterranean-style diets rich in fish oil, olives and nuts, may reduce visceral fat.

From Science Daily

Fats and oils generated aromatic compounds and short chain fatty acids.

From Science Daily

The supplement contained the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, which are naturally found in fish oil.

From Science Daily

According to the findings, providing patients with albumin enriched with free fatty acids may help prevent the infection from taking hold, an important strategy given how quickly mucormycosis progresses.

From Science Daily

Athletes showed differences in short-chain fatty acid levels and in the presence of certain bacterial species depending on how hard they were training.

From Science Daily