Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Serving to dilute.
  • noun An inert substance used to dilute.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Diluting; serving for dilution.
  • noun That which dilutes, or makes more fluid; a fluid that weakens the strength or consistence of another fluid upon mixture.
  • noun In medicine, a substance which increases the percentage of water in the blood. Diluents consist of water and watery liquors.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Diluting; making thinner or weaker by admixture, esp. of water.
  • noun That which dilutes.
  • noun (Med.) An agent used for effecting dilution of the blood; a weak drink.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun That which dilutes.
  • noun analytical chemistry A solvent or other liquid preparation used to dilute a sample prior to testing.
  • noun medicine An agent used for effecting dilution of the blood; a weak drink.
  • adjective Diluting; making thinner or weaker by admixture, especially of water.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a diluting agent

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin dīluēns, dīluent-, present participle of dīluere, to dilute; see dilute.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin diluens, from diluere. See dilute

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Examples

Comments

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  • From Latin, ca. 1721: a diluting agent. Hm. Kinda cool.

    October 18, 2007

  • Neat. Look at all those vowely things in the middle.

    October 18, 2007

  • I know. It's like unguent. Mmmm... oily...

    October 18, 2007

  • And kind of like an eluent--a substance used to separate different components of a solution.

    October 18, 2007