melinite

[ mel-uh-nahyt ]

/ ˈmɛl əˌnaɪt /

Save This Word!

noun Chemistry.

a high explosive containing picric acid.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of melinite

1885–90; <French mélinite<Greek mḗlin(os) made of apples (derivative of mêlon apple) + French -ite-ite¹

Words nearby melinite

Méliès, melilite, Melilla, melilot, Melinda, melinite, melioidosis, meliorate, melioration, meliorism, meliority

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use melinite in a sentence

Pg 120 The whole place was dust and thunder and the half-acrid, half-fat, all-sickly smell of melinite.
From Capetown to Ladysmith|G. W. Steevens
That shell will be cherished after extraction of its fuse and melinite charge.
Four Months Besieged|H. H. S. Pearse
Shrapnel screamed all around, and melinite shells made the earth shake.
Tommy Atkins at War|James Alexander Kilpatrick
Cellars may give protection from fire or melinite; but they are worse than death traps against the heavy fumes of poisonous gas.
America's War for Humanity|Thomas Herbert Russell

Also the enemy fired a new kind of shell, believed to be melinite, which stifles a man to death and does not hit one at all.
In the Line of Battle|Various

British Dictionary definitions for melinite

melinite

/ (ˈmɛlɪˌnaɪt) /

noun

a high explosive made from picric acid

Word Origin for melinite

C19: via French from Greek mēlinos (colour) of a quince, from mēlon fruit, quince

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012