cyanamide

[ sahy-an-uh-mid, -mahyd, sahy-uh-nam-ahyd, -id ]

nounChemistry.
  1. a white, crystalline, unstable, deliquescent solid, CH2N2, usually produced by the action of ammonia on cyanogen chloride or by the action of sulfuric acid on calcium cyanamide.

  2. (not in technical use) calcium cyanamide.

Origin of cyanamide

1
First recorded in 1830–40; cyan-2 + amide
  • Also cy·an·a·mid [sahy-an-uh-mid, sahy-uh-nam-id]. /saɪˈæn ə mɪd, ˌsaɪ əˈnæm ɪd/.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cyanamide in a sentence

  • A view of the oven room in the plant of the American Cyanamid Company.

    Creative Chemistry | Edwin E. Slosson
  • A mixture of calcium cyanamid and acid phosphate was found to possess considerable larvicidal action.

    The House Fly and How to Suppress It | L. O. Howard and F. C. Bishopp
  • Cyanamid ammonia gas is especially valuable for this purpose on account of its high degree of purity.

  • Practically every civilized country in the world, except the United States, had one or more cyanamid factories in 1916.

British Dictionary definitions for cyanamide

cyanamide

cyanamid (saɪˈænəmɪd)

/ (saɪˈænəˌmaɪd, -mɪd) /


noun
  1. Also called: cyanogenamide (ˌsaɪənəʊˈdʒɛnəˌmaɪd, -mɪd) a white or colourless crystalline soluble weak dibasic acid, which can be hydrolysed to urea. Formula: H 2 NCN

  2. a salt or ester of cyanamide

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