a red-brown poisonous irritating gas that, at ordinary temperatures, exists in equilibrium with dinitrogen tetroxide. It is an intermediate in the manufacture of nitric acid, a nitrating agent, and also an oxidizer for rocket fuels. Formula: NO2
nitrogen dioxide in American English
a poisonous, reddish-brown gas, NO2, used in making nitric acid, as a rocket-fuel oxidizer, etc.: it is also an air pollutant formed from automobile exhausts
Examples of 'nitrogen dioxide' in a sentence
nitrogen dioxide
The move was intended to reduce greenhouse gases, but although diesels produce less carbon dioxide they emit nitrogen dioxide.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
These release a gas called nitrogen dioxide, which has harmful effects on the female reproductive system.