stearic acid

American  

noun

Chemistry.

1. a colorless, waxlike, sparingly water-soluble, odorless solid, C 1 8 H 3 6 O 2 , the most common fatty acid, occurring as the glyceride in tallow and other animal fats and in some animal oils: used chiefly in the manufacture of soaps, stearates, candles, cosmetics, and in medicine in suppositories and pill coatings.

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stearic acid British  

noun

1. a colourless odourless insoluble waxy carboxylic acid used for making candles and suppositories; octadecanoic acid. Formula: CH 3 (CH 2 ) 16 COOH See also stearin

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stearic acid Scientific  

/ stē-ăr′ĭk,stîr′ĭk /

1. A colorless, odorless, waxlike fatty acid occurring in animal and vegetable fats and used in making soaps, candles, lubricants, and other products. Chemical formula: C ₁₈ H ₃₆ O ₂ .

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Etymology

Origin of stearic acid

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

Dryer sheets don’t magically make clothes inherently softer, they make them feel softer by coating them with a softening agent, like stearic acid.

From Slate • Apr. 17, 2023

Dark chocolate is higher in fat than milk chocolate, but much of it is a combination of the heart-healthy monounsaturated kind and stearic acid, a type of saturated fat that doesn’t raise cholesterol.

From Washington Post • Feb. 21, 2022

To be fair, some saturated fats – such as stearic acid and lauric acid – have recently been shown to have neutral effects on blood cholesterol levels.

From US News • Oct. 14, 2015

Animal fats with stearic acid and palmitic acid contained in meat, and the fat with butyric acid contained in butter, are examples of saturated fats.

From Textbooks • Apr. 25, 2013

Thus if a small amount of stearic acid be added to liquid palmitic acid and the solution frozen, the melting point of this solid will be lower than that of palmitic acid.

From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by Thomssen, E. G.