nitric acid noun1 •A transparent, colorless to pale yellow, fuming corrosive liquid, HNO₃; a highly reactive oxidizing agent used in the production of fertilizers, explosives, and rocket fuels and in a wide variety of industrial processes.Instantly a little vapour arose from it, as happens when one disturbs nitric acid, and this sight did not increase my hopes, already faint enough, of the efficacy of the treatment. — 1886
