What does "pyrolysis" mean?

The decomposition of a material or compound due to heat, in the absence of oxygen or other reagents.

What is a synonym for "pyrolysis"?

Common synonyms include: blazing, blistering, burning, calcination, cineration, combustion.

Pronounced //paɪˈɹɒlɪsɪs//.

//paɪˈɹɒlɪsɪs// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The decomposition of a material or compound due to heat, in the absence of oxygen or other reagents. countable, physical, uncountable
"Techniques that have successfully identified ionic intermediates in solution have been applied to gas-phase pyrolyses."
2
transformation of a substance produced by the action of heat wordnet

"Techniques that have successfully identified ionic intermediates in solution have been applied to gas-phase pyrolyses."

From pyro- + -lysis.

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