a brown powder consisting of a sulfonate salt made from waste liquor of the sulfate pulping process of soft wood: used in concrete, leather tanning, as an additive in oil-well drilling mud, and as a source of vanillin.
Also called lig·no·sul·fo·nate[lig-nuh-suhl-fuh-neyt]/ˌlɪg nəˈsʌl fəˌneɪt/.
