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astringent

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

A substance which draws tissue together, thus restricting the flow of blood.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhstrinjuhnt

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

əstˈɹɪndʒənt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A substance which draws tissue together, thus restricting the flow of blood.

adjective

  1. medicine

    Tending to draw together or constrict soft organic tissue

  2. medicine

    Having the effect of drawing tissue together; styptic.

  3. Causing a dry or puckering mouthfeel; characteristic of foods with high tannin content, such as certain kinds of berries and citrus fruits.

  4. Sharp, caustic, severe.

  5. Extremely sour, bitter.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A substance which draws tissue together, thus restricting the flow of blood.

Used this way, astringent is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • styptic , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

astringent tasteastringent actionmild astringentastringent effectsome astringentpowerful astringentastringent lotionastringent quality

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • astringent drugnounCompound term

    A drug that causes contraction of body tissues and canals.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: substance which draws tissue together

sourstypticRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.