dilute

English

Etymology

From Latin dīlūtus, from dīluere (“to wash away, dissolve, cause to melt, dilute”), from dī-, dis- (“away, apart”) + luere (“to wash”). See lave, and compare deluge.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /daɪˈljuːt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /daɪˈlut/, /dɪˈlut/
• Rhymes: -uːt

Verb

dilute (third-person singular simple present dilutes, present participle diluting, simple past and past participle diluted)

1. (transitive) To make thinner by adding solvent to a solution, especially by adding water.
   • 1712, Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem:

     Mix their watery store / With the chyle's current, and dilute it more.

2. (transitive) To weaken, especially by adding a foreign substance.
   • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “[The First Book of Opticks. Part I.] ”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 36:

     For if these Colours be diluted and weakened by the Mixture of any adventitious light, the distance between the places of the Paper will not be so great.

   • 1856, L. S. Lavenu, chapter XXXIII, in Erlesmere; or, Contrasts of Character‎^[1], volume 1, London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 336:

     “Stay a little.”
     “Not another second: language and discussion dilute thought; I will say no more.”

   • 1980 August 30, Jil Clark, quoting Jane, “Gays Talk About Registration and the Draft”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 6, page 9:

     It's healthy to have people in the military who would perhaps rather be somewhere else; they can dilute the more gung-ho military types.

3. (transitive, stock market) To cause the value of individual shares or the stake of a shareholder to decrease by increasing the total number of shares.
4. (intransitive) To become attenuated, thin, or weak.

   It dilutes easily.

Antonyms

• condense
• concentrate

Related terms

• diluent
• dilutant
• dilution
• dilutory
• diluvium
• dilutable

Translations

to add more of a solvent to a solution; especially to add more water

• Bulgarian: разреждам (bg) (razreždam), разводнявам (bg) (razvodnjavam)
• Catalan: diluir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 稀釋／稀释 (zh) (xīshì)

• Czech: ředit (cs), zředit (cs)
• Dutch: verdunnen (nl)
• Finnish: laimentaa (fi), ohentaa (fi)
• French: diluer (fr), couper (fr) (about wine mainly)
• Galician: diluír
• German: verdünnen (de)
• Greek: αραιώνω (el) (araióno)
• Hebrew: דילל (dilél)
• Hungarian: hígít (hu)
• Icelandic: þynna
• Italian: diluire (it)
• Japanese: 薄める (ja) (usumeru), 希釈する (ja) (kishaku suru)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ron (ku)

• Latin: diluere
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: waimeha
• Polish: rozcieńczać (pl)
• Portuguese: diluir (pt)
• Romanian: dilua (ro)
• Russian: разбавля́ть (ru) impf (razbavljátʹ), разба́вить (ru) pf (razbávitʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: razblažiti (sh)
• Spanish: diluir (es)
• Swedish: späda ut, tunna ut (sv)
• Tibetan: སླ་རུ་གཏོང (sla ru gtong), སླ་པོ་བཟོ (sla po bzo) (causative/voluntary/transitive), སླ་རུ་འགྲོ (sla ru 'gro) (resultative/involuntary/intransitive)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

to weaken

• Finnish: laimentaa (fi), heikentää (fi); jatkaa (fi), vesittää (fi) (colloquial)
• German: verwässern (de), abschwächen (de)
• Hebrew: החליש (hekhlísh), דל (he) (dal)—also sp. דלל (he) (dalál) (Biblical, archaic), דילדל (dildél)
• Icelandic: veikja, þynna
• Latin: hebetare, affligere, deminuere
• Portuguese: diluir (pt)
• Swedish: späda ut, tunna ut (sv)
• Tibetan: བསྲེ་ལྷད་གཏོང (bsre lhad gtong), ལྷད་གཏོང (lhad gtong)

stock market: to decrease the value of individual shares by increasing the total number of shares

• Finnish: dilutoida, laimentaa (fi)
• German: verwässern (de)
• Russian: размыва́ть (ru) impf (razmyvátʹ)
• Swedish: späda ut
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can

Adjective

dilute (comparative more dilute, superlative most dilute)

1. Having a low concentration.

   Clean the panel with a dilute, neutral cleaner.

2. Weak; reduced in strength by dilution; diluted.
3. Of an animal: having a lighter-coloured coat than is usual.

   a dilute calico

   a cat with a dilute tortoiseshell coat

Derived terms

• dilute Russell's viper venom time

Translations

having a low concentration

• Bulgarian: разреден (bg) (razreden)
• Finnish: laimea (fi), mieto (fi)
• French: dilué (fr) m, diluée (fr) f
• German: verdünnt (de)
• Hebrew: מדולל m (medulal)
• Hungarian: híg (hu)
• Icelandic: þynntur m, þynnt f or n
• Latin: dilutus
• Maori: waimeha
• Polish: rozcieńczony m
• Romanian: diluat (ro)
• Russian: разбавленный (ru) (razbavlennyj), разведённый (ru) (razvedjónnyj)
• Tagalog: binantuan, malabnaw

weak

• Finnish: laimennettu (fi), laiha (fi)
• French: faible (fr) m or f
• German: verwässert (de)
• Hebrew: חלש (he) m (chalash), דל (he) m (dal)
• Icelandic: veikur (is)
• Irish: caol
• Latin: imbecillus, mollis

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} diluire (it)

Noun

dilute (plural dilutes)

1. An animal having a lighter-coloured coat than is usual.
   • 2000, Joe Stahlkuppe, American Pit Bull Terrier Handbook, page 131:

     On average, blues and other dilutes have weaker coats and skin problems seem more prevalent in the dilutes.

See also

• Concentration on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• dilate

References

• “dilute”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “dilute”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Latin

Participle

dīlūte

1. vocative masculine singular of dīlūtus