formaldehyde

[fawr-mal-duh-hahyd, fer-] /fɔrˈmæl dəˌhaɪd, fər-/

noun, Chemistry

a colorless, toxic, potentially carcinogenic, water-soluble gas, CH ₂ O, having a suffocating odor, usually derived from methyl alcohol by oxidation: used chiefly in aqueous solution, as a disinfectant and preservative, and in the manufacture of various resins and plastics.

Also called methanal.

Compare formalin.

Origin

1870-75; form(ic) + aldehyde; modeled on German Formaldehyd

Examples from the web for formaldehyde

The smell of spilled chemicals, including methanol and formaldehyde, fills the air.
He made his foray onto the art scene by submersing various animals-sharks, sheep, cows-in display cases filled with formaldehyde.
For contemporary purveyors of scandal, one might look among the sharks in formaldehyde and heads of frozen human blood.
The piece of medical history is now stored in a formaldehyde solution in a cabinet behind the scenes at the museum.
He is the artist who has floated a sheep in formaldehyde and sliced a cow into sections and so forth for the sake of sculpture.
Their formulaic concept amounts to intellectual formaldehyde.
Likely candidates include such recognized or suspected carcinogens as benzene and formaldehyde.
The team washed everything with bleach and smoked the victims' rooms with formaldehyde vapor.
formaldehyde is toxic, but still widely used to make glues-particularly for the adhesives that hold together plywood.
It damages many fuel system components, increases air pollution such as ozone and formaldehyde.

British Dictionary definitions for formaldehyde

formaldehyde

/fɔːˈmældɪˌhaɪd/

noun

a colourless poisonous irritating gas with a pungent characteristic odour, made by the oxidation of methanol and used as formalin and in the manufacture of synthetic resins. Formula: HCHO Systematic name methanal

Word Origin

C19: form(ic) + aldehyde; on the model of German Formaldehyd

Word Origin and History for formaldehyde

pungent gas formed by oxidation of methyl alcohol, 1869, a contraction of formic aldehyde; see formic + aldehyde. Discovered in 1863 by German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1818-1892).

formaldehyde in Medicine

formaldehyde for·mal·de·hyde (fôr-māl'də-hīd')
n.
A colorless, gaseous compound that is the simplest aldehyde, used for manufacturing melamine and phenolic resins, fertilizers, dyes, and embalming fluids and in aqueous solution as a preservative and disinfectant.

formaldehyde in Science

formaldehyde

(fôr-māl'də-hīd')
A colorless gas having a sharp, suffocating odor. It is used in making plastics and, when dissolved in a solution of water and methanol, to preserve biological specimens. Chemical formula: CH₂O.