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Definition of "levorotatory" [le•vo•ro•ta•to•ry]

  • Of or relating to an optically active chemical that rotates the plane of polarized light to the left, or counterclockwise: Only levorotatory amino acids are biologically active. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "levorotatory" in a sentence
  • "“At the molecular level, it would appear to be a levorotatory form of the Gnawing bacillus,” Selar began."
  • "Oil from the wild roots of North India is said to be highly levorotatory (rotates the plane of polarized light to the left), whereas that from the cultivated roots from South India is dextrorotatory (rotates polarized light to the right)."
  • "Shock waves blew most of the atmosphere off, leavin 'the rest thin enough that chemical evolution could go on, not too unlike the Terran-photosynthesis and so forth, though the amino acids that developed happened to be mainly dextro -' stead of levorotatory."