sodium fluoride

American  

noun

1. a colorless, crystalline, water-soluble, poisonous solid, NaF, used chiefly in the fluoridation of water, as an insecticide, and as a rodenticide.

---

sodium fluoride Scientific  

1. A colorless, crystalline salt used to fluoridate water and treat tooth decay. It is also used as an insecticide and a disinfectant. Chemical formula: NaF.

---

Etymology

Origin of sodium fluoride

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

In 1945, Grand Rapids, Mich., played host to a pilot project that added sodium fluoride to the town’s water supply.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

“However, this is still not likely as there was at least some sodium fluoride which would help preserve the sample.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026

This grinding causes the materials to react at room temperature, breaking the carbon-fluorine bonds within Teflon and producing harmless carbon along with sodium fluoride, a stable salt widely used in fluoride toothpaste.

From Science Daily • Nov. 27, 2025

Solid calcium fluoride can also be prepared by the reaction of aqueous solutions of calcium chloride and sodium fluoride, yielding aqueous sodium chloride as the other product.

From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019

To remove the last traces of hydrofluoric acid, advantage is taken of the fact that fused sodium fluoride combines with the free acid with great energy to form the double fluoride HF.NaF.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 832, December 12, 1891 by Various