How to Use lignin in a Sentence

lignin

noun
  • Paper is wood with the lignin digested away.
    — David George Haskell, Big Think, 27 Mar. 2026
  • One of the things that makes wood wood is a polymer known as lignin which forms support structures in trees and plants.
    — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 8 Feb. 2018
  • This toughness is imparted by lignin.
    — David George Haskell, Big Think, 27 Mar. 2026
  • The toasting process breaks down starch and other polymers, called lignins and tannins, in the oak.
    — Michael W. Crowder, Fortune, 14 Sep. 2023
  • The first is flowers, the second a molecule, lignin.
    — David George Haskell, Big Think, 27 Mar. 2026
  • The team stripped the lignin — the rigid glue in plant cells — from wood, leaving a porous cellulose skeleton.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 3 Feb. 2026
  • To remove much of the lignin, pieces of balsa wood were treated with heat and chemicals for 5 hours.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 29 Apr. 2023
  • Instead, the main components of wood are cellulose and lignin.
    — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, 5 Apr. 2018
  • This wood is chosen for its tight grain and natural flavor compounds, such as lignin and tannins.
    — Emily Price, Forbes.com, 4 Apr. 2025
  • So the researchers first stripped the wood of lignin, the component that gives it color and rigidity.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 12 Apr. 2026
  • For the nanowood, the team removed the lignin, the polymer that holds the cellulose of wood together.
    — Emily Matchar, Smithsonian, 26 Mar. 2018
  • But for this project, Hu and his colleagues removed all of the lignin and most of the hemicellulose.
    — Amina Khan, latimes.com, 10 Mar. 2018
  • In experiments, the process achieved an adipic acid yield of about 26 wt% (grams of product per gram of lignin).
    — Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 14 June 2026
  • One of the main advantages of using lignin is its availability.
    — Maryna Holovnova, New Atlas, 22 Jan. 2026
  • Flaxseed is rich in lignins — plant compounds studied for their cancer-fighting properties.
    — Bestreviews, Mercury News, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Leaf litter from trees attacked by lace bugs is higher in lignin, a type of fiber that decomposes very slowly.
    — Ula Chrobak, Popular Science, 9 Mar. 2020
  • Concrete-like lignin, the toughest of the three, holds everything together.
    — Katarina Zimmer, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Feb. 2025
  • The third is to find employment for lignin, a by-product of the pulping process which is, at the moment, usually burned.
    — The Economist, 17 Oct. 2019
  • The scientists discovered that gribbles use hemocyanins to attack the strong bonds of lignin.
    — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 5 Dec. 2018
  • This might happen because antler rubs strip bark away, revealing lignin-rich inner wood that reemits the longer wavelengths in a way bark does not.
    — Anirban Mukhopadhyay, Scientific American, 21 Jan. 2026
  • Flowers and lignin were helpful bequests from seagrass land ancestors.
    — David George Haskell, Big Think, 27 Mar. 2026
  • An analysis of the tree’s wooden composition after six months revealed less lignin in the trees.
    — Popular Science, 13 July 2023
  • The process begins with poplar wood chips, from which lignin is extracted and broken down into an oil rich in aromatic compounds.
    — Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 14 June 2026
  • The lignin, hemicellulose, and other polymers that give the wood structure break down to produce sweet, vanilla notes.
    — Wayne Curtis, WIRED, 30 May 2017
  • Ultraviolet rays break down lignin, the component in wood that holds the fibers together.
    — Jeanne Huber, Washington Post, 24 June 2019
  • The material contains lignin and silica as well, both of which aid in fighting off bacteria growth.
    — Halee Miller Van Ryswyk, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Sep. 2024
  • These sprout from trees that the fungi are in the process of consuming from the inside out, transforming lignin and cellulose into chitin.
    — Discover Magazine, 23 Aug. 2012
  • Furthermore, wood chips are high in lignins and other hard-to-digest compounds, and the decomposition process will be very slow.
    — oregonlive, 12 Apr. 2020
  • The paper industry uses lots of chemicals and energy to remove lignin from pulp.
    — Dino Grandoni, Washington Post, 1 Aug. 2024
  • The second most abundant naturally-occurring polymer on Earth, lignin is what makes wood rigid and brown.
    — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 8 Feb. 2018

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