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vapor

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

vayper

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈveɪpɚ

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. Cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.

  2. The gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid.

  3. idiomatic

    Something insubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To use insubstantial language; to boast or bluster.

  2. intransitive

    To become vapor; to be emitted or circulated as vapor.

  3. transitive

    To turn into vapor.

  4. To emit vapor or fumes.

  5. transitive

    To give (someone) the vapors; to depress, to bore.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.

Used this way, vapor 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

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

More ways to use vapor

  • “Steam and water vapor rose from the hot spring.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

water vaporvapor pressurevapor barriervapor densityaqueous vaporvapor phasechemical vapormercury vapor

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • vapor densitynounCompound term

    The density of a gas relative to the density of hydrogen.

  • vapor bathnounCompound term

    A room that can be filled with steam in which people bathe.

  • vapor locknounCompound term

    A stoppage in a pipeline caused by gas bubbles (especially a stoppage that develops in hot weather in an internal-combustion engine when fuel in the gas line boils and forms bubbles that…

  • vapor pressurenounCompound term

    The pressure exerted by a vapor.

  • sodium-vapor lampnounCompound term

    Lamp in which an electric current passed through a tube of sodium vapor makes a yellow light.

  • water vapornounCompound term

    Water in a vaporous form diffused in the atmosphere but below boiling temperature.

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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.