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peroxide

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A strong clear liquid used to clean cuts and lighten hair.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

perahksyd

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IPA pronunciation (US)

pɚˈɑksaɪd

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Hydrogen peroxide, especially an aqueous solution used as a bleach

  2. inorganic chemistry

    A divalent radical or anion containing two oxygen atoms linked by a covalent bond; any substance containing this group which yields hydrogen peroxide when treated with an acid

verb

  1. To treat (something) with hydrogen peroxide, especially hair in order to bleach it

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Hydrogen peroxide, especially an aqueous solution used as a bleach

Used this way, peroxide is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • hydrogen peroxide , a specialist term, precise but narrower

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use peroxide

  • “She must peroxide her hair-it looks unnaturally blond.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Hydrogen / divalent

hydrogen peroxidebarium peroxideperoxide solution

Other combinations

sodium peroxideperoxide valuelead peroxidenitrogen peroxideperoxide formation

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • peroxide blondnounCompound term

    A blond whose hair is bleached with peroxide.

  • peroxide blondenounCompound term

    A blond whose hair is bleached with peroxide.

  • hydrogen peroxidenounCompound term

    A viscous liquid with strong oxidizing properties.

  • barium peroxidenounCompound term

    A white toxic powder obtained by heating barium oxide in air.

  • benzoyl peroxidenounCompound term

    A white crystalline peroxide used in bleaching (flour or oils or fats) and as a catalyst for free radical reactions.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • peroxidasenounRelated term

    Any of a group of enzymes (occurring especially in plant cells) that catalyze the oxidation of a compound by a peroxide.

  • superoxide dismutasenounRelated term

    An enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of superoxide into hydrogen peroxide and oxygen.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: hydrogen peroxide

hydrogen peroxideTechnical

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API (CC BY-SA 3.0). Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.