acetone Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun the simplest ketone; a highly inflammable liquid widely used as an organic solvent and as material for making plastics
dimethyl ketone; propanone.

See Acetic.

(Chem.) A volatile liquid consisting of three parts of carbon, six of hydrogen, and one of oxygen; pyroacetic spirit, -- obtained by the distillation of certain acetates, or by the destructive distillation of citric acid, starch, sugar, or gum, with quicklime. ✍ The term in also applied to a number of bodies of similar constitution, more frequently called ketones. See Ketone.