a complex polymer occurring in certain plant cell walls making the plant rigid
lignin in American English
(ˈlɪgnɪn)
noun
an amorphous, cellulose-like, organic substance which acts as a binder for the cellulose fibers in wood and certain plants and adds strength and stiffness to the cell walls
Word origin
ligni- + -in1
Examples of 'lignin' in a sentence
lignin
It breaks up the molecules of lignin, an extremely tough constituent of wood.
Schneider, Hermann & Schneider, Leo The Harper Dictionary of Science in Everyday Language (1988)
By turning cellulose into wood, lignin allowed plants to grow higher and higher.
Oliver Morton Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet (2007)
Breaking down lignin takes a lot of energy, and so has to be done aerobically.
Oliver Morton Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet (2007)
Lignin is particularly useful, as its presence helps prevent the cellulose breaking down and being absorbed by the body.
Lamplugh, Diana & Sterwin, Diana & Nottidge, Pamela Survive the Nine to Five - a woman's guide to working well (1989)
One way for them to do this is to increase the amount of lignin in their wood because lignin provides fire-resistance.
Oliver Morton Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet (2007)
It found that one of the most significant was lignin, a chemical compound similar to that which gives the distinctive smell of vanilla.