absorbent
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
- (RP) IPA: /əbˈsɔː.bn̩t/, /əbˈzɔː.bn̩t/, X-SAMPA: /@bs'O:(r)b@nt/
- (US) IPA: /æbˈsɔr.bn̩t/, /æbˈzɔr.bn̩t/, /əbˈsɔr.bn̩t/, /əbˈzɔr.bn̩t/
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Audio (US) (file)
Etymology [edit]
From Latin absorbēns, present active participle of absorbeō (“absorb”).
Adjective [edit]
absorbent (comparative more absorbent, superlative most absorbent)
- Having the ability or tendency to absorb; able to soak up liquid easily; absorptive. [First attested in the early 18th century.][1]
- Those paper towels were amazingly absorbent. That was quite a spill.
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
absorbing
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Noun [edit]
absorbent (plural absorbents)
- Anything which absorbs. [First attested in the early 18th century.][1]
- 1839, Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle, 1972, Forgotten Books, page 225,
- In the Southern Ocean the winter is not so excessively cold, but the summer is far less hot, for the clouded sky seldom allows the sun to warm the ocean, itself a bad absorbent of heat: and hence the mean temperature of the year […] is low.
- 1839, Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle, 1972, Forgotten Books, page 225,
- (physiology, pluralized, now rare) The vessels by which the processes of absorption are carried on, as the lymphatics in animals, the extremities of the roots in plants. [First attested in the mid 18th century.][1]
- (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.
- (chemistry) A liquid used in the process of separating gases or volatile liquids, in oil refining.
Translations [edit]
anything which absorbs
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Translations to be checked
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References [edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 2003 [1933], Brown, Lesley editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, edition 5th, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7, page 9:
Catalan [edit]
Adjective [edit]
absorbent m, f (masculine and feminine plural absorbents)
Noun [edit]
absorbent m (plural absorbents)
Related terms [edit]
French [edit]
Verb [edit]
absorbent
- third-person plural present indicative of absorber
- third-person plural present subjunctive of absorber
Latin [edit]
Verb [edit]
absorbent
- third-person plural present active indicative of absorbeō
