noun
: a colorless liquid acid CH 3 COOH with a pungent odor constituting the chief acid of vinegar, made usually by oxidation of acetaldehyde, by fermentation of alcohol, or by distillation of wood, and used chiefly in manufacturing cellulose acetate plastics and fibers, in making salts, esters, and other derivatives, in the textile and paint and pigment industries, and occasionally in medicine as an astringent and styptic — see glacial acetic acid , pyroligneous acid , vinegar ; compare krebs cycle