picric acid

American  

noun

Chemistry.

1. a yellow, crystalline, water-soluble, intensely bitter, poisonous acid, C 6 H 3 N 3 O 7 , used chiefly in explosives.

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picric acid British  

/ ˈpɪkrɪk /

noun

1. Systematic name: 2,4,6-trinitrophenol.  a toxic sparingly soluble crystalline yellow acid used as a dye, antiseptic, and explosive. Formula: C 6 H 2 OH(NO 2 ) 3 See also lyddite

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picric acid Scientific  

/ pĭk′rĭk /

1. A poisonous, yellow crystalline solid used in explosives, dyes, and antiseptics. Chemical formula: C ₆ H ₃ N ₃ O ₇ .

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Etymology

Origin of picric acid

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

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

Jaundice can be simulated by taking large doses of picric acid, but the yellowness thus produced is not quite that of true jaundice, and the picric acid can be detected in the malingerer's urine.

From Time Magazine Archive

Piper sat up all night reading chemistry books and announced the next day that the anesthetist was probably using chloropicrin, a heavy, colorless liquid made by chlorinating picric acid.

From Time Magazine Archive

And she fought ultramodern lethal concoctions�TNT, aniline dyes, picric acid, which stained its workers so yellow that they were dubbed "canaries."

From Time Magazine Archive

Among these products may be mentioned aniline, rosaniline, napthaline, chinoline, carbolic acid, picric acid, &c., with their derivatives.

From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Salter, Thomas