smokeless powder

noun

any of various substitutes for ordinary gunpowder that give off little or no smoke, especially one composed wholly or mostly of guncotton.

Origin of smokeless powder

First recorded in 1885–90

Words Nearby smokeless powder

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

How to use smokeless powder in a sentence

Of course, the whole difficulty in such cases arises from the invisible fire of smokeless powder.
The Relief of Mafeking | Filson Young
At the front rose a dense fog of fleecy white, for the volunteers had not yet been afforded the luxury of smokeless powder.
The Code of the Mountains | Charles Neville Buck
This fact, combined with the use of smokeless powder, makes the locating of hostile batteries exceedingly difficult.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 2 | Various
smokeless powder and Maxim silencers are no ways common out in these woods.
The Boy Chums in the Florida Jungle | Wilmer M. Ely
Rottweil smokeless powder: a gelatined powder containing camphor and diphenylamine.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia | Various

British Dictionary definitions for smokeless powder

smokeless powder

noun

any one of a number of explosives that burn with relatively little smoke. They consist mainly of nitrocellulose and are used as propellants

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

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