nitroglycerin

[ nahy-truh-glis-er-in ]

noun

, Chemistry, Pharmacology.

1. a colorless, thick, oily, flammable, highly explosive, slightly water-soluble liquid, C 3 H 5 N 3 O 9 , prepared from glycerol with nitric and sulfuric acids: used chiefly as a constituent of dynamite and other explosives, in rocket propellants, and in medicine as a vasodilator in the treatment of angina pectoris.

nitroglycerin

/ nī′trō-glĭs′ər-ĭn /

1. A thick, pale-yellow, explosive liquid formed by treating glycerin with nitric and sulfuric acids. It is used to make dynamite and in medicine to dilate blood vessels. Chemical formula: C 3 H 5 N 3 O 9 .

Word History and Origins

Origin of nitroglycerin¹

First recorded in 1855–60; nitro- + glycerin

Example Sentences

As if those choices were comparably distasteful when, in fact, one is vanilla and the other is nitroglycerin.

From Los Angeles Times

Doctors had been prescribing nitroglycerin for angina and other heart ailments for over a century — including, coincidentally, to Alfred Nobel, who founded the Nobel Prizes.

From New York Times

Before his examination, Haupt went outside and swallowed three nitroglycerin pills to make his heart beat rapidly.

From Literature

“Being in love was like being on a seesaw where one side contained nitroglycerin,” he writes.

From New York Times

And assembling a courtroom mosaic to portray a capital defendant is like handling nitroglycerin.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• ammunition
• bomb
• booby trap
• detonator
• dynamite
• gunpowder
• mine
• missile
• munition
• powder