Absorbent

/əbˈsɔː.bn̩t/ · adjective

Meaning

Having the ability or tendency to absorb; able to soak up liquid easily; absorptive..

Definitions by Sense

1. Having the ability or tendency to absorb; able to soak up liquid easily; absorptive.
2. Anything which absorbs.
3. (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.
4. (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.
5. (physical chemistry) A liquid used in the process of separating gases or volatile liquids, in oil refining.

Example Sentences

Those paper towels were amazingly absorbent. That was quite a spill.

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.

Synonyms for absorbent

Antonyms for absorbent

Related Words

Word Forms

• more absorbent
• most absorbent
• absorbents

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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