From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishformaldehydefor‧mal‧de‧hyde /fɔːˈmældəhaɪd $ fɔːr-/ noun [uncountable] HCa strong-smelling gas that can be mixed with water and used for preserving things such as dead animals to be used in science etc frogs preserved in formaldehyde
Examples from the Corpus
formaldehyde• Try spider plants, as they absorb formaldehyde, which is found in synthetic carpets, underlay, chipboard and wood treatments.• The contamination problems extend beyond formaldehyde.• Chipboard and other pressed wood products are made with a resin containing formaldehyde, an irritant and suspected carcinogen.• Excessive formaldehyde levels have posed a problem before at the tunnel site.• He picked up a jar large enough to hold a fetus in formaldehyde.• This time its offerings include a dead shark floating in a tank of formaldehyde.• He had developed a vaccine using virulent forms of polio that were then killed with formaldehyde and injected.Origin formaldehyde (1800-1900) formic (FORMIC ACID) + aldehyde type of chemical 