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dilute

verb · adjective · noun

Simple meaning

To make thinner by adding solvent to a solution.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dyloot

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

daɪˈlut

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.

verb

  1. transitive

    To make thinner by adding solvent to a solution, especially by adding water.

  2. Corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones

  3. transitive

    To weaken, especially by adding a foreign substance.

  4. transitivestock market

    To cause the value of individual shares or the stake of a shareholder to decrease by increasing the total number of shares.

  5. intransitive

    To become attenuated, thin, or weak.

adjective

  1. Having a low concentration.

  2. Of an animal: having a lighter-coloured coat than is usual.

  3. Weak; reduced in strength by dilution; diluted.

noun

  1. An animal having a lighter-coloured coat than is usual.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To make thinner by adding solvent to a solution, especially by adding water.

Used this way, dilute 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
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

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.

Make / corrupt

dilute sodiumdilute ammonia

Other combinations

dilute solutiondilute aciddilute alcoholdilute urine

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • dilutedadjectiveInflected form

    Reduced in strength or concentration or quality or purity.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • dilutionnounRelated term

    A diluted solution.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

verb

Sense: to make thinner by adding solvent to a solution

water down

adjective

Sense: having a low concentration

washyRarewatery

Antonyms

Sense: having a low concentration

undiluted

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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.