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''formaldehyde'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''formaldehyde'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250808002001-00-⌔

formaldehyde - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Noun

formaldehyde (countable and uncountable, plural formaldehydes)

  • (organic chemistry) The simplest aldehyde, HCHO, a colourless gas that has many industrial applications; it dissolves in water to give formol (10%) and formalin.
    • ✤ The shark chosen to replace the original was injected with 224 gallons of formaldehyde, ten times the amount used on the first shark and in a stronger concentration.1
    • ✤ Back in 2006, Hirst found himself at the centre of a different debate arising out of the need to refurbish or update formaldehyde pieces that are prone to decay. It related to the piece that made him famous: the formaldehyde shark The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), which had been bought by the US hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen for $8m.2

Etymology

From form(yl) + aldehyde.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fɔː(ɹ)ˈmældɪhaɪd/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • Hyphenation: for‧mal‧de‧hyde

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. 2010, Don Thompson, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark, Aurum Press Limited, →ISBN: ↩

  2. 2024 March 19, Maeve McClenaghan, “Damien Hirst formaldehyde animal works dated to 1990s were made in 2017”, in The Guardian ‎, →ISSN: ↩

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