1. A sweet white crystalline substance, metameric with pyrogallol, and obtained by the decomposition of phloretin, and from certain gums, as catechu, kino, etc. It belongs to the class of phenols.
2. Also called, phloroglucinol: 1,3,5-benzenetriol. A trinitrobenzene derivative with antispasmodic properties that is used primarily as a laboratory reagent.