How to Use formic acid in a Sentence

formic acid

noun
  • The heat from cooking has the same effect on the starch as the formic acid.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 21 Nov. 2024
  • The formic acid that provides their main defense is no defense.
    — John Anderson, WSJ, 1 Nov. 2022
  • To account for this, the team used flour and formic acid instead of water.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 21 Nov. 2024
  • Wood ants use the same formic acid that the garden ants use to clean their nests and battle their prey.
    — Sophie Putka, Discover Magazine, 13 July 2020
  • First, the Formica ants squirt the trap-jaw ants with a stream of formic acid that stuns them.
    — Rachel Becker, The Verge, 18 Nov. 2018
  • The formic acid breaks up the giant stacks of spirals–or helices–that make up starch.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 21 Nov. 2024
  • Some, like formic acid, work well to penetrate the caps of broods and kill infant mites.
    — Monica Cull, Discover Magazine, 29 June 2022
  • For instance, the insects’ formic acid (part of their defense system) plays a triple role.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Or is it applied topically, like the formic acid birds use to treat blood-sucking bird lice?
    — Jesse Hawley, Discover Magazine, 6 Jan. 2021
  • Both strategies allow the body to excrete the methanol before it’s turned into formic acid.
    — Carrie Arnold, National Geographic, 19 Aug. 2020
  • Many ant species produce a poisonous substance within their venom gland called formic acid.
    — Sophie Putka, Discover Magazine, 13 July 2020
  • When attacked, the ants bite and excrete formic acid through the end of their abdomen, using it like venom.
    — Corryn Wetzel, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Apr. 2022
  • Methanol is metabolized to formaldehyde, then to formic acid inside the body.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 6 July 2020
  • Inside the body, methanol is metabolized to formaldehyde, then to formic acid.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 23 June 2020
  • As a form of defense against predators, the yellow crazy ants release a burst of formic acid which can blind anyone on their trail.
    — Scott Travers, Forbes, 22 Nov. 2024
  • These ants bite, excrete formic acid, and prey on various insects and even small animals.
    — Kim Luciani, The Enquirer, 14 July 2025
  • Different species might sting their enemies, bite them with powerful jaws or shoot them with jets of formic acid.
    — Cara Giaimo, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2020
  • Breaking down formic acid yields a molecule of hydrogen and of carbon dioxide.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 3 Jan. 2024
  • After helping to make important proteins, formaldehyde gets turned into formic acid and exits the body through urine.
    — Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, 27 Jan. 2017
  • In this system, the end product is formic acid, a chemical that can be stored and later used as a clean fuel or industrial feedstock.
    — Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 14 June 2026
  • The excited ants release formic acid, which is a natural repellent for mites, lice and ticks that have gotten into the bird’s feathers.
    — Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 July 2025
  • Hart tells the Guardian that the birds can appear drunk after eating just a few of the insects, perhaps as a result of the formic acid found in the ants’ bodies.
    — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian, 20 July 2019
  • After locating the resident queen, the invader sprayed her with abdominal fluid that smelled of formic acid.
    — CNN Money, 17 Nov. 2025
  • When the Formica ants attack, the high-speed video would show these really quick bursts of formic acid being sprayed from their abdomens and splattering on the trap-jaw ants.
    — Rachel Becker, The Verge, 18 Nov. 2018
  • If more current flows, more formic acid is produced, so the system can increase the flow rate to prevent the final liquid from becoming too concentrated.
    — New Atlas, 21 June 2026
  • Scientists have created a way to convert carbon dioxide, an important greenhouse gas, into formic acid.
    — Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 4 Sep. 2019
  • In testing, the setup produced a pure aqueous formic acid solution under real sunlight, even as the light intensity changed.
    — New Atlas, 21 June 2026
  • Sharp, slightly vinegary formic acid is the one-carbon volatile acid, a chemical weapon found in ants and other insects but turned against them by the anteater, which relies on it to help digest them.
    — Harold McGee, WSJ, 24 Oct. 2020
  • Thymol, and other naturally occurring miticides like oxalic acid, formic acid and hops, are used in current treatments in the form of strips or trays that go inside the hive.
    — Michelle Cohan, CNN, 17 Nov. 2022
  • Instead of becoming a harmless chemical building block, the body metabolizes methanol into toxic formic acid.
    — Carrie Arnold, National Geographic, 19 Aug. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'formic acid.' 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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