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liquescent

liquescent

9.9
To turn from a solid into a liquid
  • adjective
  • /lɪˈkwɛsənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : licuante
  • The artist used a liquescent medium that flowed easily to create her abstract painting.

Examples

  • The chocolate became liquescent when heated, making it perfect for dipping fruits.

  • "I must have called a hundred places—there was just nothing else," Laura apologizes in her soft, liquescent language, blinking gray, short-sighted eyes.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The mirror was covered with shifting veils of steam, amongst which, vaguely, Gillian saw her death advancing towards her, its hair streaming dark and liquid, its eyeholes dark smudges, its mouth open in its liquescent face in fear of their convergence.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • As the ice melted in the sun, it took on a liquescent form, pooling on the ground.

Synonyms

melting
vsliquescent
1.0

Becoming liquid because of heat

is becoming liquid without specifying the cause
deliquescent
vsliquescent
  • Specialized
9.9

Likely to turn into liquid by taking in water from the air

is becoming liquid in general, not only by absorbing moisture

Antonyms

325 1.0

Firm and hard so it keeps its shape, not liquid

How Liquid

liquid
324 1.0
liquescent
  • Specialized
9.9
solid
325 1.0

Surface Forms

liquescent positive

Morphology

liquescent = liquesce (semi-transparent) = liquesce + ent

The adjective is built regularly from the verb 'liquesce' plus '-ent', but the base verb is rare and Latinate, so the meaning is only partly transparent.

Etymology

Liquescent comes from the root liqu- meaning 'liquid' and the ending -escent meaning 'becoming'. So, liquescent describes something that is 'becoming liquid', like ice slowly melting into water.