Absorbent

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /É™bˈsɔː.bnÌ©t/, /É™bˈzɔː.bnÌ©t/
• US

Origin

From Latin absorbēns, present active participle of absorbeō ("absorb").

Full definition of absorbent

Adjective

1. Having the ability or tendency to absorb; able to soak up liquid easily; absorptive. First attested in the early 18^th century.

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

Derived terms

• absorbent ground
• nonabsorbent

Noun

1. Anything which absorbs. First attested in the early 18^th century.
• 1839, Charles_Darwin, , 1972, Forgotten Books, page 225,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.
2. (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. First attested in the mid 18^th century.
3. (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.
4. (chemistry) A liquid used in the process of separating gases or volatile liquids, in oil refining.