noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The anion -O-CH₃⁻ derived from methanol by loss of a proton; any salt containing this anion

Verb

1. 1
   To add, or treat with methyl alcohol (see methylated spirits)
2. 2
   To add a methyl group to a compound
3. 3
   To add a methyl group to a nucleic acid as part of the process of gene expression

Etymology

Etymology 1

From methyl + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Etymology 2

From methyl + -ate (“derivative”)

Related phrases

gene expressionmethyl alcoholmethylated spiritsnucleic acid

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