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nitroglycerin

American  
[nahy-truh-glis-er-in] / ˌnaɪ trəˈglɪs ər ɪn /
Also nitroglycerine

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 Scientific  
/ 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 .

Etymology

Origin of nitroglycerin

First recorded in 1855–60; nitro- + glycerin

Vocabulary lists containing nitroglycerin

Civil Engineering

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Engineering - High School

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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 • Sep. 6, 2023

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

From Washington Post • Mar. 8, 2022

"I thought you were reaching for your emergency nitroglycerin pill," she jokes with a "ha ha old man" lightness.

From Salon • Dec. 15, 2021

The explosion of nitroglycerin is a chemical change because the gases produced are very different kinds of matter from the original substance.

From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019

The following day, Friday, June 26, Haupt and Wernecke went to the drugstore to buy nitroglycerin pills.

From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.