CHLORINE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does chlorine mean? 

• CHLORINE (noun)
  The noun CHLORINE has 1 sense:

1. a common nonmetallic element belonging to the halogens; best known as a heavy yellow irritating toxic gas; used to purify water and as a bleaching agent and disinfectant; occurs naturally only as a salt (as in sea water)

  Familiarity information: CHLORINE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHLORINE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A common nonmetallic element belonging to the halogens; best known as a heavy yellow irritating toxic gas; used to purify water and as a bleaching agent and disinfectant; occurs naturally only as a salt (as in sea water)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

atomic number 17; chlorine; Cl

Hypernyms ("chlorine" is a kind of...):

chemical element; element (any of the more than 100 known substances (of which 92 occur naturally) that cannot be separated into simpler substances and that singly or in combination constitute all matter)

gas (a fluid in the gaseous state having neither independent shape nor volume and being able to expand indefinitely)

halogen (any of five related nonmetallic elements (fluorine or chlorine or bromine or iodine or astatine) that are all monovalent and readily form negative ions)

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

radiochlorine (a radioactive isotope of chlorine)

Holonyms ("chlorine" is a substance of...):

common salt; sodium chloride (a white crystalline solid consisting mainly of sodium chloride (NaCl))

Derivation:

chlorinate (disinfect with chlorine)

chlorinate (treat or combine with chlorine)

 Context examples 

Previous research focused on household-level water treatment that required people to add their own doses of chlorine.

(Chlorine dispensers fitted to public taps cut child diarrhoea, SciDev.Net)

Table salt is made up of the elements sodium and chlorine - the technical name for salt is sodium chloride.

(Dietary Sodium, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Forms of the element chlorine found in foods.

(Dietary Chlorine, NCI Thesaurus/CRCH)

As of 2008, CCl4 accounted for about 11 percent of chlorine available for ozone depletion, which is not enough to alter the decreasing trend of ozone-depleting substances.

(Ozone-depleting compound persists, NASA)

Chlorine requiring removal of one electron to return to its elemental form.

(Chloride Ion, NCI Thesaurus/CRCH)

Molecule that contains atoms of the element carbon, usually combined with itself and with atoms of one or more other element such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, chlorine, or fluorine.

(Organic Chemical, NCI Thesaurus)

Treatment may include adding fluoride to prevent cavities and chlorine to kill germs.

(Drinking Water, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

A mustard agent containing nitrogen and chlorine atoms.

(Nitrogen Mustard Compound, NCI Thesaurus)

For the first time, scientists have shown through direct satellite observations of the ozone hole that levels of ozone-destroying chlorine are declining, resulting in less ozone depletion.

(First Direct Proof of Ozone Hole Recovery Due to Chemicals Ban, NASA)

Sodium, calcium, potassium, chlorine, phosphate and magnesium are all electrolytes.

(Fluid and Electrolyte Balance, NIH)