diluent

Latin diluens, from diluere. See dilute.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪljuənt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

diluent (plural diluents)

1. That which dilutes.
2. (analytical chemistry) A solvent or other liquid preparation used to dilute a sample prior to testing.
3. (medicine) An agent used for effecting dilution of the blood; a weak drink.
   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 230-231:

     But the case was pressing, and the nearest medical practitioner was sent for. On examining the throat, he expressed his desire that a physician should be called in, and accordingly a gentleman, duly authorized, made his appearance, and prescribed gargles and diluents secundem artem.

• dilutant, diluter, thinner

diluent (comparative more diluent, superlative most diluent)

1. Diluting; making thinner or weaker by admixture, especially of water.
   • 1731, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], 1st Irish edition, Dublin: […] S. Powell, for George Risk, […], George Ewing, […], and William Smith, […], →OCLC:

     there is no real Diluent but Water, every Fluid is diluent as it contains Water in it

• dilutory

• “diluent”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• untiled

• IPA^(key): /di.ly/

diluent

1. third-person plural present indicative/subjunctive of diluer

dīluent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of dīluō