smokeless powder

American  

noun

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

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smokeless powder British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of smokeless powder

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Most modern firearms and other weapons used by soldiers and civilians alike rely on smokeless powder to propel a bullet to its target.

From New York Times • Jun. 23, 2023

There is no known direct link between these particular shipments of smokeless powder and the Ukrainian battlefield, and in customs paperwork Poly Technologies described the powder as being “for assembly of foreign-style hunting cartridges.”

From New York Times • Jun. 23, 2023

Modern guns use smokeless powder, which usually emits only a wisp.

From Slate • Jul. 17, 2017

Cotton seeds now contribute to the manufacture of refined oils, stearin, soap, nitroglycerine, roofing paint, writing paper, nitrocellulose, smokeless powder, lacquers, artificial leather, celluloid, rayon, photographic films, sausage casings, toilet ware, furfural, etc., etc.

From Time Magazine Archive

Molly Richards kept her "eye pealed for bombs," she told Dorothy, and declared the "rebs" would be heard from sooner or later in the midst of smokeless powder.

From Dorothy Dale at Glenwood School by Penrose, Margaret