smokeless powder

1. 1.

   an explosive (trade name Ballistite) that burns with relatively little smoke; contains pyrocellulose and is used as a propellant

   SynonymsBallistite

   Broaderexplosive

Questions about smokeless powder

What does smokeless powder mean?

smokeless powder means "an explosive (trade name Ballistite) that burns with relatively little smoke; contains pyrocellulose and is used as a propellant".

What is another word for smokeless powder?

Close synonyms include Ballistite. 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 smokeless powder a common word?

smokeless powder 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.