flocculent

American  

[flok-yuh-luhnt] / ˈflɒk yə lənt /

adjective

1. like a clump or tuft of wool.

2. covered with a soft, woolly substance.

3. consisting of or containing loose woolly masses.

4. flocky.

5. Chemistry. consisting of flocs and floccules.

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flocculent British  

/ ˈflɒkjʊlənt /

adjective

1. like wool; fleecy

2. chem aggregated in woolly cloudlike masses

   a flocculent precipitate

3. biology covered with tufts or flakes of a waxy or wool-like substance

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Other Word Forms

• flocculence
  noun
• flocculency
  noun
• flocculently
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of flocculent

First recorded in 1790–1800; flocc(us) + -ulent

Explanation

If something's puffy or has tufts, you can describe it as flocculent. Sheep are flocculent before they're sheared, and much less flocculent afterward. The unusual adjective flocculent basically means "fluffy," although it's specific to the way wool is fluffy — in tufts. Your carefully styled hair might be flocculent after a drive in a convertible, for example. The root is the Latin word floccus, which means "lock of hair" or "tuft of wool."

Example Sentences

Treated with the usual tannin reagents, it exhibits the following characteristics:— Gelatine Light Flocculent precipitate.

From Synthetic Tannins by Grasser, Georg