Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

polyhydric

American  
[pol-ee-hahy-drik] / ˌpɒl iˈhaɪ drɪk /

adjective

Chemistry.
  1. (especially of alcohols and phenols) polyhydroxy.


polyhydric British  
/ ˌpɒlɪˈhaɪdrɪk /

adjective

  1. another word for polyhydroxy, esp when applied to alcohols

"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

Etymology

Origin of polyhydric

First recorded in 1875–80; poly- + hydric 1

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.

Last week the corps announced its choice as ethylene glycol, a polyhydric alcohol, whose ingredients can be bought in the open market.*

From Time Magazine Archive

Dextrose, maltose, milk sugar, galactose, and the polyhydric alcohols give, if anything, only insignificant colours, and these only after long standing.

From Researches on Cellulose 1895-1900 by Cross, C. F.

I gathered that it is something like a polyhydric alcohol and something like a substituted hydrocarbon, and yet different from either in that it contains flourin in loose combination.

From Spacehounds of IPC by Smith, E. E. (Edward Elmer)

Amongst polyhydric alcohols, the behaviour of the methyl ester of catechol, guaiacol was investigated.

From Synthetic Tannins by Grasser, Georg