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Glite Dictionary
🚲 A hand pump 💾 A decompression tool
inflater

inflater

7.2
A software part that turns compressed data back into original data
  • noun
  • /ɪnˈfleɪtər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : descompresor
  • The software includes an inflater that can quickly restore large data files.

Examples

  • The programmer implemented an inflater to ensure the data could be easily accessed after compression.

  • To read the compressed documents, you need to use an inflater for decompression.

  • Use the inflater.

    Sleeper (1973)

Antonyms

deflater
  • Specialized
7.0

A program that makes files smaller using the DEFLATE method

Surface Forms

inflater singular
inflaters plural

Morphology

inflater = inflate (semi-transparent) = inflate + er

This computing sense is a technical/metaphorical extension of 'inflate' (to expand or restore), so the agent noun formation is regular but the domain-specific meaning may not be obvious to all learners.

Etymology

The word inflater keeps the same idea in computing: inflate means 'put air in' or 'make bigger', so a software inflater 'puts the air back' into compressed data, undoing deflate and returning the file to its original size.