How to Use nitrite in a Sentence
nitrite
noun-
The wells will turn pink if there’s any nitrite, so the pinker the scan, the more nitrite there is.
—Melina Walling, The Arizona Republic, 3 Oct. 2022
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Nolan Ryan Beef is leaving the nitrites behind with the launch of uncured beef franks.
—Katherine Feser, Houston Chronicle, 17 July 2019
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And then, over the next several hours, some of the nitrite is further reduced to nitric oxide in the gut.
—Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, Discover Magazine, 26 Mar. 2019
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After that the nitrite becomes inert, and the curing process halts.
—Cameron Johnson, Popular Mechanics, 12 May 2021
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Others, like nitrite and sulfite, are known to be released in gases at volcanic vents.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 4 Oct. 2019
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And a 1997 study in The Lancet showed that on the skin, nitrite in saliva is converted to nitric oxide, which is antimicrobial.
—Erika Engelhaupt, National Geographic, 24 Oct. 2017
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Out with the nitrates, nitrites, and preservatives; in with the cultured celery juice and cherry powder.
—Bryan Gruley, Bloomberg.com, 2 Aug. 2017
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Cyclamates are used as sweeteners, not preservatives; nitrites are used to cure hot dogs, not to dye them.
—New York Times, 4 May 2018
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Camryn Swift, 14, dipped a test tube into the fish tank and squeezed a few chemical drops into the tube to test for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, and pH levels.
—Karina Elwood, Washington Post, 2 Apr. 2023
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These foods all contain nitrates or nitrites, preservatives used to cure meats that prevent them from spoiling and give them that rosy color.
—Alix Wall, sun-sentinel.com, 10 July 2019
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Ball Park's classic and turkey franks still contain sodium nitrite.
—Samantha Bomkamp, chicagotribune.com, 3 July 2017
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On that occasion, Wang poured nitrite into a glass used by Feng, causing minor injuries.
—Ben Westcott, CNN, 29 Sep. 2020
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The body digests nitrates and turns it into nitrites, which inhibits red blood cells' ability to carry oxygen.
—Special To The Oregonian, OregonLive.com, 15 Aug. 2017
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The color magic happens when nitrites convert to nitric oxide (NO), which binds to the iron in muscle myoglobin to form a stable pigment when heated.
—Patrick Di Justo, WIRED, 11 May 2012
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Sodium nitrite is one option for quenching sodium azide.
—Anna Edney, Fortune, 7 May 2022
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The original recipe included chopped pork shoulder meat with ham, salt, water, sugar and sodium nitrite.
—Ayalla A. Ruvio, Smithsonian, 6 July 2017
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That’s because nitrites break down and form nitric oxide, which then binds to the hemoglobin molecules in the meat and prevent it from oxidizing.
—Billy Cadden, Popular Science, 8 Aug. 2017
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The body converts that nitrate to nitrite and then to nitric oxide, which seems to make your muscles work more efficiently during endurance exercise.
—Alex Hutchinson, Outside Online, 22 Mar. 2018
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In many cases, a preservative was adding cost, so some of that counterbalanced the bigger expenses, like removing nitrates and nitrites from deli meat.
—Julie Jargon, WSJ, 20 Feb. 2017
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After the initial nitrite stops working, the nitrate molecules (NO3) give up oxygen atoms and turn into additional nitrite to finish the job.
—Cameron Johnson, Popular Mechanics, 12 May 2021
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But nitrates and nitrites are known carcinogens, occurring both naturally in some foods and as an additive in others.
—Alix Wall, sun-sentinel.com, 10 July 2019
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Foods that contain nitrites or nitrates—including bacon, grilled or smoked meats, and even some fruits and vegetables—can fuel a chemical reaction in the stomach that creates NDMA.
—Michele Cohen Marill, Wired, 9 Apr. 2020
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Both the Actinomyces and Veillonella can turn nitrate—found in foods like spinach and other leafy greens—into nitrite, which allows our cells to make nitric oxide which helps with vital functions like controlling blood pressure.
—Popular Science, 20 Apr. 2020
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Scientists had hypothesized that any drugs that raised the stomach’s pH could increase the growth of bacteria that produce nitrites, which could interact with chemicals called amines to produce nitrosamines.
—Tanya Lewis, Scientific American, 28 Oct. 2019
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Uncured Ham Uncured ham is, confusingly, also cured, just without the addition of synthetic nitrites and nitrates.
—Patricia S York, Southern Living, 27 Jan. 2024
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When cooked at high temperatures, nitrite and nitrate preservatives may react with compounds naturally found in meat to trigger the formation of toxins called nitrosamines.
—Jamie Ducharme, Time, 1 June 2018
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Earlier Tuesday, Lebanon’s interior minister said 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrite exploded in a warehouse in Port of Beirut after having been stored there for years.
—Fox News, 5 Aug. 2020
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In the experiments, the phytoplankton greedily sucked up the available organic and inorganic nitrogen coming off the ash in the form of nitrite, nitrate, and ammonium.
—Jenessa Duncombe, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Mar. 2020
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Making deli meat without additives such as nitrites was particularly hard.
—Heather Haddon, WSJ, 12 Oct. 2018
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Pomegranates also contain nitrates which are converted to nitric oxide when consumed via a very complex pathway called the enterosalivary nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide (NO) pathway.
—Dr. Michael Daignault, USA TODAY, 25 May 2022
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nitrite.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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