carbolic acid

1. 1.

   a toxic white soluble crystalline acidic derivative of benzene; used in manufacturing and as a disinfectant and antiseptic; poisonous if taken internally

   Synonymsphenolhydroxybenzeneoxybenzenephenylic acid

   Broaderacidsolvent

Questions about carbolic acid

What does carbolic acid mean?

carbolic acid means "a toxic white soluble crystalline acidic derivative of benzene; used in manufacturing and as a disinfectant and antiseptic; poisonous if taken internally".

What is another word for carbolic acid?

Close synonyms include phenol, hydroxybenzene, oxybenzene, phenylic acid. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is carbolic acid a common word?

carbolic acid is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.