FORMIC ACID

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does formic acid mean? 

• FORMIC ACID (noun)
  The noun FORMIC ACID has 1 sense:

1. a colorless pungent fuming vesicatory liquid acid HCOOH found naturally in ants and many plants or made catalytically from carbon monoxide and steam; used in finishing textiles and paper and in the manufacture of insecticides and fumigants

  Familiarity information: FORMIC ACID used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORMIC ACID (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A colorless pungent fuming vesicatory liquid acid HCOOH found naturally in ants and many plants or made catalytically from carbon monoxide and steam; used in finishing textiles and paper and in the manufacture of insecticides and fumigants

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("formic acid" is a kind of...):

acid (any of various water-soluble compounds having a sour taste and capable of turning litmus red and reacting with a base to form a salt)

 Context examples 

Fomepizole prevents the metabolism of ethylene glycol and methanol by alcohol dehydrogenase, thereby inhibiting the formation of their toxic metabolites, glycolate and oxalate (from ethylene glycol), and formic acid (from methanol).

(Fomepizole, NCI Thesaurus)

Nondigestible in mammals, lactulose passes unabsorbed down to the large intestine where resident bacteria consume it and produce lactic, acetic, and formic acids, which draw fluid into the bowel to soften the stool (laxative effect).

(Lactulose, NCI Thesaurus)

This species is nonmotile, has an elliptical shape, ferments glucose to yield lactic acid, acetic acid and formic acid, does not produce gas from glucose fermentation, is indole negative, and does not reduce nitrate.

(Atopobium minutum, NCI Thesaurus)