-əˌwēn noun
( -s )
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary tol- + -ene
: a light mobile liquid aromatic hydrocarbon C 6 H 5 CH 3 that resembles benzene but is less volatile, less flammable, and less toxic, that was obtained originally by distilling balsam of tolu, that is produced commercially from light oils from coke-oven gas and coal tar and especially since World War II from petroleum (as by dehydrogenation of methyl-cyclohexane or by the reforming of dimethylcyclopentane), and that is used chiefly as a solvent, as a raw material for trinitrotoluene, dyes, pharmaceuticals, and other organic compounds, and as a blending agent for gasoline especially for use in aviation because of its high antiknock property — called also methylbenzene