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

Across the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization, militaries are seeking to boost supplies of guncotton.

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 explosive wave from the dry guncotton primer is in fact better responded to by the wet compressed material than the dry, and its detonation is somewhat sharper than that of the dry.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various