Meaning & use
Chloroform
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A colorless, sweet-smelling, volatile liquid compound once widely used as a general anesthetic and now mainly as an industrial solvent.
See it in a sentence
Nineteenth-century surgeons used chloroform to render patients unconscious before operations.
The chemistry teacher warned students never to inhale chloroform vapors directly.
A note on using this word
Because of its liver and heart toxicity, chloroform was largely abandoned as a medical anesthetic during the twentieth century in favor of safer alternatives.
Words with a similar meaning
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Another way to use it
2. verb
To subdue or render someone unconscious using chloroform.
In the old thriller, the villain chloroformed the guard before slipping past.
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