Nitrous

//ˈnaɪtɹəs// adj, noun, slang

adj, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Nitrous oxide. informal, uncountable
  2. 2
    The system in some racing vehicles which pumps nitrous oxide into the engine to improve performance. informal, uncountable

    "When a shot this big is being run, it will also be necessary to pull 6-10 degrees of timing out when the nitrous is being run."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Pertaining to or composed of nitre; having the properties of nitre, bitter. historical, not-comparable

    "Whate'er the wintry Frost Nitrous prepar'd; the various-blossom'd Spring Put in white Promise forth; and Summer-Suns Concocted strong, rush boundless now to View […]."

  2. 2
    Of, relating to, or derived from nitrogen, especially in which the valence of the nitrogen is lower than that of a corresponding nitric species. not-comparable

    "In fact, nitric oxide (not to be confused with nitrous oxide, or laughing gas) is one of our primary signalling molecules."

  3. 3
    Of or relating to nitrous acid or its derivatives. not-comparable
  4. 4
    Having a sharp odor like ammonia or nitric acid. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    of or containing nitrogen wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
azoticazoticnitric

Example

More examples

"What made the comedian's audience laugh so uncontrollably that night was a convenient nitrous oxide leak."

Etymology

From Middle French nitreux, and its source, Latin nitrōsus (“nitrose”). Doublet of nitroso. By surface analysis, nitro- + -ous.

Related phrases

nitrous airnitric acidnitrous acidnitrous oxide

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