absorbent
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Pronunciation
- IPA: /əbs"ɔː(r)bənt/
- SAMPA: /@bs'O:(r)b@nt/
- Audio (US)help, file
[edit] Etymology
Latin absorbens, past preterite of absorbere.
[edit] Adjective
absorbent (comparative more absorbent, superlative most absorbent)
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Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
- absorbing; swallowing; absorptive.
- Those paper towels were amazingly absorbent. That was quite a spill.
[edit] Derived terms
- absorbent ground (painting) a ground prepared for a picture, chiefly with distemper, or water colors, by which the oil is absorbed, and a brilliancy is imparted to the colors.
[edit] Translations
absorbing
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[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
absorbent (plural absorbents)
- Anything which absorbs.
- The ocean, itself a bad absorbent of heat. — Charles Darwin
- (medicine) Any substance which absorbs and neutralizes acid fluid in the stomach and bowels, as magnesia, chalk, etc.; also a substance, e.g., iodine, which acts on the absorbent vessels so as to reduce enlarged and indurated parts.
- (physiology, pluralized) The vessels by which the processes of absorption are carried on, as the lymphatics in animals, the extremities of the roots in plants.
[edit] Translations
- French: absorbant m.
- Interlingua: absorbente (1)
- Portuguese: absorvente m. (1)
- Russian: абсорбент (absorbént) m.
- Spanish: absorbente m.
[edit] French
[edit] Verb
absorbent
- Third-person plural present indicative of absorber.
- Third-person plural present subjunctive of absorber.

