Urea

//jʊˈɹiːə// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A water-soluble organic compound, CO(NH₂)₂, formed by the metabolism of proteins and excreted in the urine. uncountable
  2. 2
    the chief solid component of mammalian urine; synthesized from ammonia and carbon dioxide and used as fertilizer and in animal feed and in plastics wordnet
  3. 3
    Any N-substituted derivative of urea, with the general formula (R₁R₂N)CO(NR₃R₄). countable

Synonyms

All synonyms
carbamideacryliccarbamidepiddleplasticurine

Example

More examples

"Ethyl carbamate (also called urethane) can form during the fermentation and storage of foods and beverages that naturally contain nitrogen-rich compounds such as urea, citrulline, and cyanate."

Etymology

From New Latin, from French urée, from Ancient Greek οὖρον (oûron, “urine”).

Related phrases

alpha-naphthylthioureaimidazolidinyl ureamethylol ureaurea cycleurea-formaldehydeorganic compound

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