fluorouracil

noun

fluo·​ro·​ura·​cil ˌflu̇r-ō-ˈyu̇r-ə-ˌsil 

-ˌsəl,

ˌflȯr-

: a fluorine-containing pyrimidine base C₄H₃FN₂O₂ used as a neoplastic agent to treat some kinds of cancer

Examples of fluorouracil in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Rosen was one of more than 275,000 cancer patients in the United States who are infused each year with fluorouracil, known as 5-FU, or, as in Rosen’s case, take a nearly identical drug in pill form called capecitabine. —Arthur Allen | Kff Health News, NBC News, 27 Mar. 2024

The Turtle Hospital on Marathon Key and the University of Florida’s Sea Turtle Hospital, working closely together, have used human anti-cancer drug treatments such as fluorouracil to decrease post-surgical recurrence of eye tumors in sea turtles. —Jessica Alice Farrell, Smithsonian, 11 July 2018

The 16 drugs that Pfizer and Cipla will sell have unfamiliar names like vinblastine, bleomycin and fluorouracil. —Donald G. McNeil Jr., New York Times, 7 Oct. 2017

Word History

Etymology

fluor- + uracil

First Known Use

circa 1958, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

fluorouracil

noun

flu·​o·​ro·​ura·​cil ˌflu̇(-ə)r-ō-ˈyu̇r-ə-ˌsil, -ˌsəl 

variants or 5-fluorouracil

ˈfīv- 

: a fluorine-containing pyrimidine base C₄H₃FN₂O₂ used to treat some kinds of cancer