Propellant

adj, noun

adj, noun ·3 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    anything that propels; fuel, oxidizer, reaction mass or mixture for one or more engines (especially internal combustion engines or jet engines) that is carried within a vehicle prior to use countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    any substance that propels wordnet
  3. 3
    anything that propels; the compressed gas in a pressurised container (especially an aerosol can) that is used to expel its content countable, uncountable

    "Then they backed the membrane with a gel matrix containing a perfluorocarbon (PFC) propellant and fluorescent "nanobullets" about a micron wide, and hit it with ultrasound."

  4. 4
    anything that propels; the explosive (cordite, gunpowder, etc) found in ammunition cartridges countable, uncountable
Adjective
  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of propellent. alt-of, alternative
Adjective
  1. 1
    tending to or capable of propelling wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
activeairscrewalcoholbenzinebriquetteburnable

Example

More examples

"Today’s spacecraft use rockets and rockets use large quantities of propellant."

Etymology

From propel + -ant.

Related phrases

jet propellantrocket propellant 1internal combustion enginejet engine

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