What does "sterol" mean?

Any steroid that contains a hydroxyl group in the 3-position of the A-ring.

What is a synonym for "sterol"?

Common synonyms include: steroid alcohol.

//ˈstɛɹɒl// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Any steroid that contains a hydroxyl group in the 3-position of the A-ring.
"Sterols are found in all animal and plant tissue and play an important role in hormone chemistry."
2
any of a group of natural steroid alcohols derived from plants or animals; they are waxy insoluble substances wordnet

"Sterols are found in all animal and plant tissue and play an important role in hormone chemistry."

From 1913; back-formation from cholesterol.

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