A white crystalline strong-smelling hydrocarbon made from coal tar or petroleum and used in organic synthesis and as a fumigant in mothballs

WordNet Word definitions in WordNet
n. a white crystalline strong-smelling hydrocarbon made from coal tar or petroleum and used in organic synthesis and as a fumigant in mothballs

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Word definitions in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
noun EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS ▪ At point E a solid mixture of benzene and naphthalene is formed. ▪ I could taste iron in the air, and naphthalene . ▪ Let us now consider a liquid mixture of composition c. This starts to form solid naphthalene at point c'. ▪ ...

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1821, coined by English chemist John Kidd (1775-1851), who first isolated and studied it, from naphtha + chemical suffix -ine (2) + -l- for the sake of euphony.

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 A white crystalline hydrocarbon manufactured from coal tar; used in mothballs. 2 (context organic compound English) An aromatic bicyclic hydrocarbon, C 10 H 8 ; an acene containing two fused benzene rings.

The Collaborative International Dictionary Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Naphthalene \Naph"tha*lene\, n. (Chem.) A white crystalline aromatic hydrocarbon, C10H8 , analogous to benzene, and obtained by the distillation of certain bituminous materials, such as the heavy oil of coal tar. It is the type and basis of a large number ...

Wikipedia Word definitions in Wikipedia
Naphthalene is an organic compound with formula . It is the simplest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon , and is a white crystalline solid with a characteristic odor that is detectable at concentrations as low as 0.08 ppm by mass . As an aromatic hydrocarbon ...