Definition of "carbon dioxide" [carbon dioxide]

• A colorless, odorless, incombustible gas, CO2, formed during respiration, combustion, and organic decomposition and used in food refrigeration, carbonated beverages, inert atmospheres, fire extinguishers, and aerosols. Also called carbonic acid gas. (noun)

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.

• "Even more striking is the fact that the con - centrations of free oxygen and carbon dioxide that exist today in the atmosphere of the earth differ profoundly from those that prevailed before the appearance of life."
• "This list includes, among many other things, baking soda and vinegar, which together produce carbon dioxide gas, and diluted hydrochloric acid mixed up with sodium sulfide, which makes a stinkazoid rottenegg smell in no time."
• "Meanwhile, burning coal constitutes the largest human-generated contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide and is a major source of methane; both gases are proven causes of climate change and global warming."