Definitions

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

  • transitive verb To make thinner or less concentrated by adding a liquid such as water.
  • transitive verb To lessen the force, strength, purity, or brilliance of, especially by admixture.
  • transitive verb To decrease the value of (shares of stock) by increasing the total number of shares.
  • adjective Weakened; diluted.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Thin; attenuated; reduced in strength, as spirit or color.
  • Weak; paltry; poor.
  • To render more liquid; make thin or more fluid, as by mixture of a fluid of less with one of greater consistence; attenuate the strength or consistence of: often used figuratively: as, to dilute a narrative with weak reflections.
  • Hence To weaken, as spirit or an acid, by an admixture of water or other liquid, which renders the spirit or acid less concentrated.
  • To make weak or weaker, as color, by mixture; reduce the strength or standard of.
  • To become liquid or more liquid; become thin or reduced in strength: as, vinegar dilutes easily.

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

  • intransitive verb To become attenuated, thin, or weak.
  • adjective Diluted; thin; weak.
  • transitive verb To make thinner or more liquid by admixture with something; to thin and dissolve by mixing.
  • transitive verb To diminish the strength, flavor, color, etc., of, by mixing; to reduce, especially by the addition of water; to temper; to attenuate; to weaken.

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

  • verb transitive To make thinner by adding solvent to a solution; especially by adding water.
  • verb transitive To weaken, especially by adding a foreign substance.
  • verb transitive, stock market To cause the value of individual shares to decrease by increasing the total number of shares.
  • adjective Having a low concentration.
  • adjective Weak; reduced in strength due to dilution, diluted.

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

  • adjective reduced in strength or concentration or quality or purity
  • verb lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture
  • verb corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones

Etymologies

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

[Latin dīluere, dīlūt- : dī-, dis-, apart, away; see dis– + -luere, to wash (from lavere; see leu(ə)- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin dilutus, from diluere ("to wash away, dissolve, cause to melt, dilute"), from di-, dis- ("away, apart") + luere ("to wash"). See lave, and compare deluge.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Applied to volcanic flows:

    flows that are relatively dilte — that is not carrying so much debris — can rush up steep slopes, or change direction quickly.
    Alexandra Witze & Jeff Kanipe, Island on Fire: The Extraordinary Story of a Forgotten Volcano That Changed the World (New York: Island Books, 2015), ch. 8, p. 168

    February 18, 2019