nozzle
Americannoun
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nozzles
plural
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a projecting spout, terminal discharging pipe, or the like, as of a hose or bellows.
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Slang. the nose.
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the spout of a teapot.
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the socket of a candlestick.
noun
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a projecting pipe or spout from which fluid is discharged
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Also called: propelling nozzle. a pipe or duct, esp in a jet engine or rocket, that directs the effluent and accelerates or diffuses the flow to generate thrust
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a socket, such as the part of a candlestick that holds the candle
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of nozzle
Explanation
A nozzle is the spout at the end of a hose that water flows through. Any kind of fluid — oil, gasoline — can move through a tube and squirt out of a nozzle, but we usually think of water in a hose, with the nozzle controlling the spray. The root of nozzle is nose, which — if you use a little imagination — describes the shape of most nozzles.
Vocabulary lists containing nozzle
100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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When You Reach Me
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Unit 4: Powerful Openings
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
With crude oil topping $100 a barrel, and the average price of gas in the state approaching $5.50 a gallon, every touch of the nozzle is painful for California drivers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026
Children suck up lamb and rice through a nozzle, like little astronauts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025
So depending on the contents, you could have a pump, a squeeze top, spray nozzle, screw top lid or other options.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2025
The nozzle array can also pick up spheroids in customized patterns, which can then be repeated to create the architecture found in complex tissue.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2024
When rocket propellant burned, it first produced a river of gas that flowed into the convergent section of the nozzle.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Musk said the car was equipped with 10 nozzles and "ultra high-pressure air tanks" to propel itself into the air and accelerate quickly on the ground.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
The availability of charging stations also plays a huge role in how fast people buy electric vehicles, and California now boasts more EV chargers than gasoline nozzles, according to the Energy Commission.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
The Soviet-era Paks power plant uses the Danube for cooling but the water level is so low that the suction nozzles cannot reach it.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
L3Harris gathers explosive propellant, nozzles and casings for the rocket motor that powers it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
He was supposed to be working on Auk XXV plus a variety of nozzles, casements, and nose cones for display at the science fair.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
