CHLOROFLUOROCARBON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does chlorofluorocarbon mean? 

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

1. a fluorocarbon with chlorine; formerly used as a refrigerant and as a propellant in aerosol cans

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHLOROFLUOROCARBON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fluorocarbon with chlorine; formerly used as a refrigerant and as a propellant in aerosol cans

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

CFC; chlorofluorocarbon

Context example:

the chlorine in CFCs causes depletion of atmospheric ozone

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

pollutant (waste matter that contaminates the water or air or soil)

fluorocarbon (a halocarbon in which some hydrogen atoms have been replaced by fluorine; used in refrigerators and aerosols)

greenhouse emission; greenhouse gas (a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation)

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

HCFC; hydrochlorofluorocarbon (a fluorocarbon that is replacing chlorofluorocarbon as a refrigerant and propellant in aerosol cans; considered to be somewhat less destructive to the atmosphere)

Freon (any one or more chlorofluorocarbons (or related compounds) that are used as an aerosol propellant, organic solvent, or refrigerant)

 Context examples 

Chlorofluorocarbons, the ozone-eating refrigerants banned by the Montreal Protocol, are declining.

(Warming due to carbon dioxide jumped by half in 25 years, NOAA)

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), which was once used in applications such as dry cleaning and as a fire-extinguishing agent, was regulated in 1987 under the Montreal Protocol along with other chlorofluorocarbons that destroy ozone and contribute to the ozone hole over Antarctica.

(Ozone-depleting compound persists, NASA)

First detected in the 1980s, the Antarctic ozone hole forms during the Southern Hemisphere’s late winter as the returning sun’s rays accelerate reactions involving man-made forms of chlorine and bromine, like chlorofluorocarbons, that concentrate over Antarctica during winter.

(Warmth in the Antarctic stratosphere helped limit the size of the ozone hole in 2017 to the smallest observed since 1988, NOAA)

Measurements show that the decline in chlorine, resulting from an international ban on chlorine-containing manmade chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), has resulted in about 20 percent less ozone depletion during the Antarctic winter than there was in 2005 — the first year that measurements of chlorine and ozone during the Antarctic winter were made by NASA’s Aura satellite.

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