What does "organic compound" mean?

Any compound containing carbon atoms covalently bound to other atoms.

Organic compound

Q: What is a synonym for "organic compound"?

Common synonyms include: biogenic, carbon based, carbon based compound, carbon based substance, carbon compound, carbon compounds.

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any compound containing carbon atoms covalently bound to other atoms.
"Meteorites contain a wide range of organic compounds."
2
any compound of carbon and another element or a radical wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

biogenic carbon based carbon based compound carbon based substance carbon compound carbon compounds

Antonyms

All antonyms

inorganic compounds inorganic salt arsenic compound inorganic

Example

More examples

"Meteorites contain a wide range of organic compounds."

Etymology

Not only are organic compounds essential to living organisms, but the common belief until the 19th century was that only living organisms could produce them, whence the name. When it was shown in the early 1800s that they could also be produced in the laboratory, the old name was kept.

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