Aliphatic

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Aliphatic \Al`i*phat"ic\, a. [Gr. ?, ?, oil, fat.] (Org. Chem.)
     Of, pertaining to, or derived from, fat; fatty; -- applied to
     compounds having an open-chain structure. The aliphatic
     compounds thus include not only the fatty acids and other
     derivatives of the paraffin hydrocarbons, but also
     unsaturated compounds, as the ethylene and acetylene series.


     Compare {alicyclic} and {aromatic}.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  aliphatic
       adj : having carbon atoms linked in open chains