ammonium nitrate

noun

: a colorless crystalline salt NH₄NO₃ used in explosives and fertilizers and in veterinary medicine

Examples of ammonium nitrate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That explosion, caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and injured over 6,000 others. —Jon Gambrell, Los Angeles Times, 27 Apr. 2025

In a conversion process similar to treating waste water, bacteria will be added to create ammonium nitrate, that plants need to grow. —Claire Poole, Forbes.com, 27 Apr. 2025

On the morning of April 19, 1995, a forty-eight-hundred-pound ammonium nitrate–fuel oil bomb exploded in a Ryder truck parked at the north entrance of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. —Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 18 Apr. 2025

Fear Grips Lebanon After Deadly Pager and Radio Blasts The death toll surpassed that of Beirut's devastating port explosion in 2020, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse detonated, killing at least 218 people and wounding more than 6,000. —Bassam Hatoum, Melanie Lidman, TIME, 23 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1866, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for ammonium nitrate

• borosilicate
• decontaminate
• deoxycholate
• deteriorate
• differentiate
• diisocyanate
• dinoflagellate
• excommunicate
• incapacitate
• insubordinate
• intercorporate
• interpenetrate

Kids Definition

ammonium nitrate

noun

: a colorless crystalline salt used in explosives and fertilizers

Medical Definition

ammonium nitrate

noun

: a colorless crystalline salt NH₄NO₃ used in explosives and fertilizers and in veterinary medicine as an expectorant and urinary acidifier