- any salt or ester of nitric acid, such as sodium nitrate, NaNO3
- a fertilizer consisting of or containing nitrate salts
- (transitive) to treat with nitric acid or a nitrate
- to convert or be converted into a nitrate
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
ni•trate /ˈnaɪtreɪt, -trɪt/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Chemistrya chemical compound with nitrogen and oxygen in it.
- Chemistry, Agriculturefertilizer made up of potassium nitrate or sodium nitrate.
ni•trate
(n. nī′trāt, -trit;v. nī′trāt),USA pronunciation n., v., -trat•ed, -trat•ing.
n.
v.t.
ni•tra′tion, n.
n.
- [Chem.]a salt or ester of nitric acid, or any compound containing the univalent group –ONO2 or NO3.
- fertilizer consisting of potassium nitrate or sodium nitrate.
- Cinemacellulose nitrate, a substance used as a film base in the early days of filmmaking.
- Cinema[Informal.]See nitrate film.
v.t.
- to treat with nitric acid or a nitrate.
- to convert into a nitrate.
- nitr- + -ate2 1785–95
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
nitrate /ˈnaɪtreɪt/ n
'nitrate' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
ampere
- celluloid
- cellulose nitrate
- Chile saltpetre
- cordite
- dynamite
- gelignite
- guncotton
- gunpowder
- nitre
- nitro-
- nitrocellulose
- potassium nitrate
- saltpetre
- silver nitrate
- slow match
- sodium nitrate
- albumen paper
- aluminum nitrate
- amatol
- ammonal
- ammonium nitrate
- amy
- Atacama Desert
- ate
- ballistite
- blasting gelatin
- blasting powder
- calcium nitrate
- caliche
- carrot
- ceria
- denitrate
- diacetone alcohol
- diethylene glycol
- ethyl nitrate
- film
- fix
- fixation
- gelatin dynamite
- glyceryl trinitrate
- hexanitrate
- isosorbide dinitrate
- juncture
- lunar caustic
- niter
- nitrate film
- nitratine
- nitrocotton
- Norwegian saltpeter