Dilution

How to spell dilution

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce dilution

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dilution mean?

1. nounThe process of making a liquid weaker or thinner by adding more of another liquid, usually water.
2. nounA reduction in the strength, value, or effect of something caused by spreading or sharing it more widely.

Dilution in a sentence

• The recipe calls for a careful dilution of the concentrate before use.

• Issuing new shares caused a noticeable dilution of existing ownership.

• The laboratory recorded the exact dilution of each acid sample.

• Managers worried about the dilution of their authority across so many teams.

Where does dilution come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb diluere, meaning 'to wash away' or 'to thin down', formed from the prefix dis-, here suggesting separation or dispersal, joined to luere, 'to wash'. The same washing root sits behind familiar relatives such as 'ablution' and 'deluge', all carrying the idea of water spreading and carrying things off. From diluere came the Latin noun dilutionem, describing the act of thinning a liquid by adding more fluid. English took the word in during the early 1600s, first in chemical and medical writing, and later extended it figuratively to anything weakened by being spread out, such as shareholdings or influence. The single l and the -tion ending are the usual spelling traps, since the schwa in the final syllable gives no clue to the spelling.

How the word is built

• di- (apart, from Latin dis-)
• lu (from luere/lavare, to wash)
• -tion (noun of action)