dilute

¹di·lute

verb \dī-ˈlüt, də-\

di·lut·eddi·lut·ing

Definition of DILUTE

transitive verb

1

: attenuate

2

: to make thinner or more liquid by admixture <diluted wine>

3

: to diminish the strength, flavor, or brilliance of by admixture <dilute a color>

4

: to decrease the per share value of (common stock) by increasing the total number of shares

— di·lut·er or di·lu·tor \-ˈlü-tər\ noun

— di·lu·tive \-ˈlü-tiv\ adjective

Examples of DILUTE

1. You can dilute the medicine with water.
2. The hiring of the new CEO diluted the power of the company's president.
3. diluting the quality of our products

Origin of DILUTE

Latin dilutus, past participle of diluere to wash away, dilute, from di- + lavere to wash — more at lye

First Known Use: circa 1555

Related to DILUTE

Synonyms: cut, adulterate, extend, lace, sophisticate, thin, water down, weaken

Antonyms: enrich, fortify, richen, strengthen

Related Words: load; befoul, contaminate, corrupt, defile, dirty, envenom, foul, infect, poison, pollute, soil, spoil, sully, taint; cheapen, debase, degrade; manipulate, misrepresent, tamper (with); counterfeit, fake, falsify, fudge; doctor, spike; attenuate, moderate, qualify, temper

Near Antonyms: fertilize, lard; augment, reinforce (also reenforce), supplement; decontaminate, purify; clarify, clean, cleanse, distill (also distil), filter, flush, leach, pasteurize, purge, refine; better, enhance, improve; compact, concentrate, condense

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Other Chemical Engineering Terms

alkali, cation, decant, hygroscopic, isotope, oxidize, slurry, solute, viscous

Rhymes with DILUTE

acute, astute, Asyût, bear fruit, beetroot, Beirut, birthroot, bloodroot, breadfruit, butut, cahoot, Canute, catsuit, cheroot, choucroute, clubroot, commute, compute, confute, crapshoot, cube root, deaf-mute, depute, dispute, dry suit, elute, en route, enroot, flight suit, folkmoot, freeboot, galoot, grapefruit, G suit, hardboot, hip boot, hirsute, imbrute, impute, jackboot, jackfruit, jumpsuit, kashruth, lawsuit, long suit, lounge suit, minute, nonsuit, offshoot, outshoot, Paiute, pantsuit, permute, playsuit, pollute, pursuit, recruit, refute, repute, salute, sans doute, seaboot, snowsuit, solute, square root, star fruit, star route, statute, strong suit, sunsuit, sweat suit, swimsuit, take root, taproot, to boot, tracksuit, trade route, transmute, tribute, uproot, volute, wet suit, zoot suit