CHEMICAL AGENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does chemical agent mean? 

• CHEMICAL AGENT (noun)
  The noun CHEMICAL AGENT has 1 sense:

1. an agent that produces chemical reactions

  Familiarity information: CHEMICAL AGENT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHEMICAL AGENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An agent that produces chemical reactions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("chemical agent" is a kind of...):

agent (a substance that exerts some force or effect)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chemical agent"):

active; active agent (chemical agent capable of activity)

reagent (a chemical agent for use in chemical reactions)

desiccant; drier; drying agent; siccative (a substance that promotes drying (e.g., calcium oxide absorbs water and is used to remove moisture))

oxidant; oxidiser; oxidizer; oxidizing agent (a substance that oxidizes another substance)

reducer; reducing agent; reductant (a substance capable of bringing about the reduction of another substance as it itself is oxidized; used in photography to lessen the density of a negative or print by oxidizing some of the loose silver)

scavenger (a chemical agent that is added to a chemical mixture to counteract the effects of impurities)

surface-active agent; surfactant; wetter; wetting agent (a chemical agent capable of reducing the surface tension of a liquid in which it is dissolved)

vesicant; vesicatory (a chemical agent that causes blistering (especially mustard gas))

 Context examples 

A device that experienced damage as the result of a chemical agent used during the sterilization process e.g. excessive residual chemical or an incompatible sterilant.

(Device Chemical Agent Damage Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)