| Library / English Dictionary |
VOLATILE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A volatile substance; a substance that changes readily from solid or liquid to a vapor
Example:
it was heated to evaporate the volatiles
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("volatile" is a kind of...):
substance (the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists)
Derivation:
volatile (evaporating readily at normal temperatures and pressures)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Tending to vary often or widely
Example:
volatile emotions
Classified under:
Similar:
changeable; changeful (such that alteration is possible; having a marked tendency to change)
Derivation:
volatility (the trait of being unpredictably irresolute)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Marked by erratic changeableness in affections or attachments
Example:
a flirt's volatile affections
Synonyms:
fickle; volatile
Classified under:
Similar:
inconstant (likely to change frequently often without apparent or cogent reason; variable)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Liable to lead to sudden change or violence
Example:
a volatile situation with troops and rioters eager for a confrontation
Synonyms:
explosive; volatile
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unstable (lacking stability or fixity or firmness)
Derivation:
volatility (being easily excited)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Evaporating readily at normal temperatures and pressures
Example:
volatile solvents
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
evaporable; vaporific; vaporizable; vapourific; vapourisable; volatilisable; volatilizable ((used of substances) capable of being volatilized)
Also:
inconstant (likely to change frequently often without apparent or cogent reason; variable)
Domain category:
chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)
Antonym:
nonvolatile (not volatilizing readily)
Derivation:
volatile (a volatile substance; a substance that changes readily from solid or liquid to a vapor)
volatility (the property of changing readily from a solid or liquid to a vapor)
volatilize (make volatile; cause to pass off in a vapor)
Context examples:
A process that removes water or volatile solvents using large volumes of hot air to suspend a bed of solids.
(Fluid Bed Drying Method, NCI Thesaurus)
A white, volatile, solid polycyclic hydrocarbon with a strong mothball odor.
(Naphthalene, NCI Thesaurus)
Note 2: Percent water and volatiles are measured by a loss on drying test in which the sample is heated at 105 degrees C until constant weight is achieved.
(Ointment Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)
A process that removes water or volatile solvents from a bed of solids by relying on absorption of heat radiation by those solvents.
(Flash Drying Method, NCI Thesaurus)
A clear, colorless, volatile liquid brominated hydrocarbon with a mild, sweet, chloroform-like odor that emits corrosive and toxic fumes when heated to decomposition.
(Ethylene Dibromide, NCI Thesaurus)
A process that removes water or volatile solvents from a bed of solids.
(Drying Method, NCI Thesaurus)
A process that is not otherwise specified, which removes water or a volatile solvent by evaporation.
(Drying Method, Not Otherwise Specified, NCI Thesaurus)
A volatile and flammable, clear, colorless, liquid, chlorinated cyclic ether with an irritating, chloroform-like odor that emits toxic fumes of hydrochloric acid and other chlorinated compounds when heated to decomposition.
(Epichlorohydrin, NCI Thesaurus)
They believe the moon must have been spewing out so much super-heated volatile gas, including water vapor, during these periods that it could have sustained life.
(Life Could Exist on Moon 4 Billion Years Ago, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
A colorless, volatile, flammable organic solvent.
(Acetone, NCI Thesaurus)
