sodium hydroxide

noun Chemistry.

a white, deliquescent, water-soluble solid, NaOH, usually in the form of lumps, sticks, chips, or pellets, that upon solution in water generates heat: used chiefly in the manufacture of other chemicals, rayon, film, soap, as a laboratory reagent, and in medicine as a caustic.
Also called caustic soda, soda.

Origin of sodium hydroxide

First recorded in 1880–85

Words nearby sodium hydroxide

sodium ethylate, sodium fluoride, sodium fluoroacetate, sodium hexametaphosphate, sodium hydrosulfite, sodium hydroxide, sodium hypochlorite, sodium hyposulfite, sodium hyposulphite, sodium iodide, sodium lactate

British Dictionary definitions for sodium hydroxide

sodium hydroxide

noun

a white deliquescent strongly alkaline solid used in the manufacture of rayon, paper, aluminium, soap, and sodium compounds. Formula: NaOH Also called: caustic soda See also lye

Medical definitions for sodium hydroxide

sodium hydroxide

n.

A strongly alkaline compound used externally. caustic soda

Scientific definitions for sodium hydroxide

sodium hydroxide

A white, corrosive, solid compound that absorbs water and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and forms lye when in solution. Sodium hydroxide is toxic and strongly alkaline and is used to make chemicals and soaps and to refine petroleum. Chemical formula: NaOH.