guncotton

American  

[guhn-kot-n] / ˈgʌnˌkɒt n /

noun

1. a highly explosive nitrocellulose, made by breaking down clean cotton in a mixture of one part nitric acid and three parts sulfuric acid: used in making smokeless powder.

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guncotton British  

/ ˈɡʌnˌkɒtən /

noun

1. cellulose nitrate containing a relatively large amount of nitrogen: used as an explosive

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Etymology

Origin of guncotton

First recorded in 1840–50; gun ¹ + cotton

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

guncotton

At a third factory, housed in renovated Cold War-era buildings in a forest populated with deer, women with long painted nails assemble tiny components for igniters, which trigger the guncotton in the propellant.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

They are now looking to expand their own production of guncotton, and assessing alternative natural precursors to make it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

One of the ships was a Belgian relief vessel; the other was the SS Mont-Blanc, a French munitions ship packed to the gills with explosives such as TNT, picric acid, benzol and guncotton.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2025

Over the years, many people have contended that this second explosion was very likely caused by secret stores of volatile munitions — like aluminum powder or guncotton — that detonated within the ship’s holds.

From New York Times ● Mar. 5, 2015

The same type of missile, this, that is used by the submarine and the destroyer—a long, cigar-shaped cylinder, operated by compressed air driving a propeller, and equipped with a warhead filled with guncotton.

From Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights by Kelly Miller