carbon dioxide
nounDefinition of carbon dioxide
: a heavy colorless gas CO2 that does not support combustion, dissolves in water to form carbonic acid, is formed especially in animal respiration and in the decay or combustion of animal and vegetable matter, is absorbed from the air by plants in photosynthesis, and is used in the carbonation of beverages
Examples of carbon dioxide in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
LanzaTech has cultivated a bacteria that can convert carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into ethanol. — Matthew Heimer, Fortune, "Fortune’s 2019 Change the World List: Companies to Watch," 19 Aug. 2019 Forests and other vegetated landscapes tend to be significant carbon sinks, sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it away. — Scientific American, "Earth Stopped Getting Greener 20 Years Ago," 15 Aug. 2019 Mangroves suck carbon dioxide out of the air and bury it in the sediment below them. — Umair Irfan, Vox, "Report: we have to change how we use land and produce food to fight climate change," 8 Aug. 2019 Global warming, aka climate change, is caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, which release heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. — Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, "July expected to be the Earth's hottest month on record," 24 July 2019 Ocean acidification and ‘the blob’ Burning fossil fuels and releasing carbon dioxide into the air doesn't just alter the makeup of our atmosphere. — Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic, "The Pacific Ocean, explained," 4 Mar. 2019 Rubisco has been converting carbon dioxide into organic carbon to the extent that earth's current atmosphere is rich with oxygen. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Scientists Tweak Photosynthesis and Boost Crop Growth by 40 Percent," 4 Jan. 2019 According to overwhelming scientific consensus, the climbing average global temperature over the past century has been fueled largely by human activities that have released heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. — Amina Khan, latimes.com, "Hurricanes and typhoons are slowing down, which means more time to do damage," 6 June 2018 Photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates for fuel, occurs in the presence of light and chlorophyll. — Debbie Arrington, sacbee, "Will pruning stop falling branches?," 20 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'carbon dioxide.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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