Definition of "carbonyl" [car•bon•yl]

• The bivalent radical CO. Also called carbonyl group. (noun)
• A metal compound, such as Ni(CO)4, containing the CO group. (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.

• "That leaves the oxygen with a very friendly bond dangling, and it likes to hook up with its nearby carbon buddy, to form what is called the carbonyl bond."
• "It is a good idea to coat all wood and bamboo roof materials with an anti-termite solution-such as carbonyl, Xylophene, or Creosote."
• "The culinary exploits were pursued further with the progress to open sandwiches, having a flat molecule on one side of the metal atom, and with only small molecules such as carbonyl, methyl or ethyl groups on the other side."