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Definition of "nitrocellulose" []

  • A pulpy or cottonlike polymer derived from cellulose treated with sulfuric and nitric acids and used in the manufacture of explosives, collodion, plastics, and solid monopropellants. Also called guncotton, cellulose nitrate. (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.

Use "nitrocellulose" in a sentence
  • "So how can we know how much nitrocellulose is its equivalent?"
  • "Be this as it may, nitrocellulose is a duly respected member of the family of macromolecules, and I take pride in laying claim to scientific kinship to Alfred Nobel through an interest in this substance, however tenuous the connection may be."
  • "They're not made from plain plastic, but nitrocellulose, which is delightfully, highly flammable."