methane

[ meth-eyn; British mee-theyn ]

/ ˈmɛθ eɪn; British ˈmi θeɪn /

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noun Chemistry.

a colorless, odorless, flammable gas, CH4, the main constituent of marsh gas and the firedamp of coal mines, obtained commercially from natural gas: the first member of the methane, or alkane, series of hydrocarbons.

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Origin of methane

First recorded in 1865–70; meth- + -ane

Words nearby methane

methadone, methaemoglobin, methamphetamine, methanal, methanation, methane, methane series, methanogen, methanoic acid, methanol, methantheline

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

How to use methane in a sentence

Natural gas mostly produces methane, which is the second leading contributor to global warming.
Environment Report: How We Know Humans Are Warming the Planet|MacKenzie Elmer|January 4, 2021|Voice of San Diego
Those precursors include nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds — both produced by traffic — as well as methane, produced by the oil and gas industry.
What the pandemic can teach us about ways to reduce air pollution|Carolyn Gramling|January 4, 2021|Science News
Creating jet fuel is particularly challenging because most routes for synthesizing hydrocarbons from CO2 tend to produce smaller molecules with only a few carbon atoms, like methane and methanol.
Scientists Just Created a Catalyst That Turns CO2 Into Jet Fuel|Edd Gent|January 3, 2021|Singularity Hub
The technology is more typically used in military and industrial settings, such as detecting methane gas leaks in pipelines.
Military-grade camera shows risks of airborne coronavirus spread|Dalton Bennett, Sarah Cahlan, Daron Taylor|December 11, 2020|Washington Post

Other projects target methane, a particularly powerful greenhouse gas.
How to buy carbon offsets that actually make a difference|Ula Chrobak|December 3, 2020|Popular-Science
That can happen, according to the report, when (flammable) methane leaks out of fracking wells and into drinking water.
New York’s Conservative Fracking Ban|Jay Michaelson|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Methane could be produced by microbes on Mars, too, if they exist in enough numbers.
Methane on Mars: Life or Just Gas?|Matthew R. Francis|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Methane is a familiar chemical, whether you know it by that name or not.
Methane on Mars: Life or Just Gas?|Matthew R. Francis|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Perhaps the mysterious Martian methane, and its strange fluctuations, are part of that story.
Methane on Mars: Life or Just Gas?|Matthew R. Francis|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And if the Martian methane is a real thing, it has some interesting implications.
Methane on Mars: Life or Just Gas?|Matthew R. Francis|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
All of them were fueled with liquid HNO3, which makes a pretty good fuel in an atmosphere that is predominantly methane.
Unwise Child|Gordon Randall Garrett
The seas of Eisberg were liquid methane containing dissolved ammonia.
Unwise Child|Gordon Randall Garrett
When the pumps in the air lock began pulling out the methane-laden atmosphere, they began to bulge slightly, but not excessively.
Unwise Child|Gordon Randall Garrett
Methane is yielded by aluminium and beryllium carbides, and, mixed with hydrogen, by manganese carbide.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3|Various
Those gases which contain less methane contain all the more hydrogen, viz.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3|Various

British Dictionary definitions for methane

methane

/ (ˈmiːθeɪn) /

noun

a colourless odourless flammable gas, the simplest alkane and the main constituent of natural gas: used as a fuel. Formula: CH 4See also marsh gas, firedamp

Word Origin for methane

C19: from meth (yl) + -ane

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

Scientific definitions for methane

methane

[ mĕth′ān′ ]

A colorless, odorless, flammable gas that is the simplest hydrocarbon. It is the major constituent of natural gas and is released during the decomposition of plant or other organic compounds, as in marshes and coal mines. Methane is the first member of the alkane series. Chemical formula: CH4.

methane

Origin of methane

Words nearby methane

Words related to methane

How to use methane in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for methane

Word Origin for methane

Scientific definitions for methane