Hydroxyl

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A univalent radical or functional group (–OH) in organic chemistry; present in alcohols, phenols, carboxylic acids and certain other classes of compounds.
  2. 2
    the monovalent group -OH in such compounds as bases and some acids and alcohols wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
hydroxyl grouphydroxyl radical

Example

More examples

"Tyrosine is similar in structure to phenylalanine, with the important distinction that the latter contains a hydroxyl group in its side chain."

Etymology

From a blend of hydrogen + oxygen + -yl.

Related phrases

hydroxyl ionhydroxyl radicalhydroxylammonium nitratecarboxylic acidfunctional grouporganic chemistry

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.