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Glite Dictionary
methyl bromide

methyl bromide

1 7.7
A poisonous gas or liquid used to kill pests like insects and rodents
  • noun
  • /ˈmɛθəl ˈbroʊmaɪd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : bromuro de metilo
  • The strategy is seen as a potential alternative for methyl bromide, which is used as a preplanting fumigant for a number of crops, including strawberries.
  • methyl bromide fumigant
  • methyl bromide is used
  • alternatives to methyl bromide

Examples

  • In agricultural practices, methyl bromide is frequently used as a fumigant to protect plants from insect infestations.

  • Soil fumigation now accounts for about 85 percent of the methyl bromide used in U.S. agriculture.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Use heat instead of methyl bromide for a quick kill of insects that might be concealed in prunes.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Around the farm and in the packinghouse, methyl bromide performs a host of fumigation chores.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Besides mothproofing dried fruits and nuts, methyl bromide is used for fresh produce like apples and even highly perishable soft fruits.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Last year's Ninth Meeting of the Montreal Protocol made the decision for industrialized countries to reduce methyl bromide consumption by 25 percent in 1999, with a complete phaseout by 2005.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Farmers often rely on methyl bromide to eliminate pests in their crops.

  • The use of methyl bromide in food storage helps to prevent the spread of harmful pests during transport.

Surface Forms

methyl bromide singular
methyl bromides plural

Morphology

methyl + bromide

The name is compositionally built from 'methyl' (a chemical group) + 'bromide' (a bromine-containing moiety), so a learner who knows both constituents would recognize this as a specific chemical compound formed from those parts. However, the additional information that it is a poisonous gas/liquid used as a fumigant is specialized knowledge not deducible from the parts alone, so the full pragmatic/functional meaning is not fully predictable.

Etymology

Methyl bromide is a name that shows what the chemical is. The part methyl means a very small carbon-and-hydrogen group and bromide means it has the element bromine, so the name points to a 'poisonous gas' used to kill pests.