nitrate
Americannoun
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Chemistry. a salt or ester of nitric acid, or any compound containing the univalent group –ONO 2 or NO 3 .
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fertilizer consisting of potassium nitrate or sodium nitrate.
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Informal. nitrate film.
verb (used with object)
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to treat with nitric acid or a nitrate.
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to convert into a nitrate.
noun
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any salt or ester of nitric acid, such as sodium nitrate, NaNO 3
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a fertilizer consisting of or containing nitrate salts
verb
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(tr) to treat with nitric acid or a nitrate
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to convert or be converted into a nitrate
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to undergo or cause to undergo the chemical process in which a nitro group is introduced into a molecule
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A salt or ester of nitric acid, containing the group NO 3. Nitrates dissolve extremely easily in water and are an important component of the nitrogen cycle.
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Compare nitrite
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has nitratedperfect 3rd person singular
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have nitratedperfect
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have been nitratingperfect progressive
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are nitratingprogressive
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has been nitratingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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am nitratingprogressive 1st person singular
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is nitratingprogressive 3rd person singular
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nitratessingular 3rd person
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nitratingparticiple
Past
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had nitratedperfect
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had been nitratingperfect progressive
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were nitratingprogressive plural
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was nitratingprogressive singular
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nitratedparticiple
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nitratedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of nitrate
Vocabulary lists containing nitrate
South America - Middle School
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South America - Introductory
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South America - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But what had never before moved me was an actual reel of film—sitting, in this case, in the inspection room of the George Eastman Museum’s offsite nitrate vaults.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
Tests revealed the water is contaminated with nitrate, which can come from fertilizer, animal manure or human sewage, and 1,2,3-trichloropropane, a hazardous chemical that was widely used in pesticides years ago.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
The venue, the museum’s Dryden Theatre, is relatively small at 500 seats, and demand is high, not for specific titles but for the opportunity to see any given movie on nitrate.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
From that period onward, nitrate levels in water leaving the Arctic steadily declined.
From Science Daily • May 28, 2026
He could tell just from picking up a toothpaste tube whether it contained potassium nitrate.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
