aromatic
Meaning of aromatic: Aromatic describes a substance with a distinct, often pleasant odor, or in chemistry, a compound built around a specific ring structure.
Definition of aromatic
Aromatic most commonly describes a substance that has a noticeable, often pleasant or spicy odor, a meaning used broadly in everyday language as well as in descriptions of certain plants, oils, and compounds used in medicine and pharmacy. Some aromatic substances are used for their scent alone, while others have additional properties relevant to their use in a product or preparation.
In chemistry, aromatic has a separate, more technical meaning, describing a class of compounds built around a stable ring-shaped arrangement of atoms, most classically represented by benzene. Many naturally occurring, pleasant-smelling substances happen to contain chemical structures that are also aromatic in this technical chemical sense, though the two meanings are not always the same thing.
Which meaning applies, the descriptive sense of scent or the specific chemical structure, generally depends on the surrounding context.
Used in a sentence
The preparation contained an aromatic oil added to improve its scent.
Good to know
Aromatic can refer either to a pleasant scent or, in chemistry, to a specific ring-shaped molecular structure, and these two meanings do not always overlap, so the intended sense depends on context.