potassium hydroxide

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noun Chemistry.

a white, deliquescent, water-soluble solid, KOH, usually in the form of lumps, sticks, or pellets, that upon solution in water generates heat: used chiefly in the manufacture of soap, as a laboratory reagent, and as a caustic.

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Also called caustic potash, potassium hydrate.

Origin of potassium hydroxide

First recorded in 1880–85

Words nearby potassium hydroxide

potassium feldspar, potassium ferricyanide, potassium ferrocyanide, potassium fluoride, potassium hydrogen tartrate, potassium hydroxide, potassium iodide, potassium monophosphate, potassium myronate, potassium nitrate, potassium oxalate

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

How to use potassium hydroxide in a sentence

In standard zinc-air cells, the electrolyte is a high-pH substance, containing ingredients like potassium hydroxide.
Zinc-air batteries are typically single-use. A new design could change that|Maria Temming|January 5, 2021|Science News
An alcoholic solution of the resin was just neutralized with potassium hydroxide.
Some Constituents of the Poison Ivy Plant: (Rhus Toxicodendron)|William Anderson Syme
Boiling with an excess of potassium hydroxide gave a black substance (tauromelanic acid).
Some Constituents of the Poison Ivy Plant: (Rhus Toxicodendron)|William Anderson Syme
Lanthanum hydroxide, La(OH)3, is a white amorphous powder formed by precipitating lanthanum salts by potassium hydroxide.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 2|Various

Now to the etherial solution, add about half its volume of a concentrated solution of potassium hydroxide in methyl alcohol.
The Chemistry of Plant Life|Roscoe Wilfred Thatcher
This represents in a single equation the action of chlorine on hot, concentrated solutions of potassium hydroxide.
An Elementary Study of Chemistry|William McPherson

British Dictionary definitions for potassium hydroxide

potassium hydroxide

noun

a white deliquescent alkaline solid used in the manufacture of soap, liquid shampoos, and detergents. Formula: KOHAlso called: caustic potash See also lye

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 potassium hydroxide

potassium hydroxide

A white, corrosive, solid compound used in bleaches and to make soaps and detergents. It is deliquescent, soluble in water and very soluble in alcohol. In solution, it forms lye. Chemical formula: KOH.