Liquid
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈlɪkwɪd/
- enPR: lɪk'wɪd
Origin
From Middle English liquide, from Old French liquide, from Latin liquidus ("fluid, liquid, moist"), from liquere ("to be liquid, be fluid").
Full definition of liquid
Noun
liquid
(countable and uncountable; plural liquids)- (physics) A substance that is flowing, and keeping no shape, such as water; a substance of which the molecules, while not tending to separate from one another like those of a gas, readily change their relative position, and which therefore retains no definite shape, except that determined by the containing receptacle; an inelastic fluid.
- 2013-08-03, Yesterday’s fuel, The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania....It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber. Other liquids produced in the refining process, too unstable or smoky for lamplight, were burned or dumped.
- A liquid can freeze to become a solid or evaporate into a gas.
- (phonetics) An l or r sound.
- 1999, Ingo Plag, Morphological Productivity (page 86)...-able does not attach to verbs ending in a postconsonantal liquid ...
Usage notes
The differentiation of a liquid as an incompressible fluid is not strictly correct, experiment having shown that liquids are compressible to a very limited extent. See fluid.
Related terms
Adjective
liquid
- Flowing freely like water; fluid; not solid and not gaseous; composed of particles that move freely among each other on the slightest pressure.liquid nitrogen
- (finance, of an asset) Easily sold or disposed of without losing value.
- (finance, of a market) Having sufficient trading activity to make buying or selling easy.
- Flowing or sounding smoothly or without abrupt transitions or harsh tones.a liquid melody
- Pronounced without any jar or harshness; smooth.L and R are liquid letters.
- Fluid and transparent.the liquid air