centrifuge
Americannoun
-
centrifuges
plural
verb (used with object)
-
centrifuges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
centrifuged,
past participle, past
-
centrifuging
present participle
noun
-
any of various rotating machines that separate liquids from solids or dispersions of one liquid in another, by the action of centrifugal force
-
any of various rotating devices for subjecting human beings or animals to varying accelerations for experimental purposes
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
centrifugesimple
-
centrifugessimple
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have centrifugedperfect
-
has centrifugedperfect
-
am centrifugingprogressive
-
are centrifugingprogressive
-
is centrifugingprogressive
-
have been centrifugingperfect progressive
-
has been centrifugingperfect progressive
Past
-
centrifugedsimple
-
had centrifugedperfect
-
was centrifugingprogressive
-
were centrifugingprogressive
-
had been centrifugingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of centrifuge
1795–1805; < French, noun use of centrifuge (adj.) < New Latin centrifugus center-fleeing; see centrifugal
Explanation
That ride at the fair that spins you around until you stick to the walls? The device in your washing machine that spins your clothes around quickly to get the water out of them? Those are centrifuges. Centrifuges are used mostly in science. In this application, centrifugal force — the force from spinning that moves things away from the center — separates liquids that have different weights. For example, a centrifuge is used to separate blood cells from plasma cells. When the blood is spun in the centrifuge, the heavier plasma cells separate from the lighter blood cells, and can be collected for other uses.
Vocabulary lists containing centrifuge
100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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This Week In Words: November 14–20, 2020
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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:
It is setting up an enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio, and a centrifuge manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Earlier this year, Centrus received a $900 million task order from the Energy Department.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
The new building is part of the main Yongbyon nuclear complex, and reportedly capable of housing up to 28 centrifuge cascades used to enrich uranium.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
By using a specially designed optical centrifuge, the team was able to precisely spin molecules suspended in liquid helium nano-droplets, giving scientists a powerful new tool for exploring these unusual frictionless materials.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 4, 2026
The former head of the Iraqi gas centrifuge program had hidden key assets from Iraq’s pre-1991 gas centrifuge program and was looking to trade them for safe passage out of Iraq.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 1, 2026
But as the intense six-month program began, she experienced problems in the pressure chamber and with the centrifuge.
From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson
"It is plausible that high value items, such as uranium gas centrifuges, were brought into and stored within the tunnels," says Faragasso.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
Tehran has previously indicated that it may be a replacement for a building within the Natanz complex used for the assembly of advanced centrifuges that was damaged after a suspected sabotage operation in July 2020.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
American forces could instead destroy the entrances and tunnels to the site to block access to the centrifuges, as they have done with other underground nuclear sites, according to experts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Traditional optical centrifuges have been used to spin molecules in gases by exposing them to a rotating laser pulse.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 4, 2026
Star City contains full-size mock-ups of spacecraft, a hydro-laboratory large enough for a 20-ton space module, special aircraft that simulate weightlessness, two centrifuges, and a planetarium with the capacity to show 9,000 stars.
From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson
The DNA was centrifuged at high speeds in an ultracentrifuge.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
After incubation on ice for 5 min, the lysed bacterial solution was centrifuged at 13,000 r.p.m. and 4 °C for 4 min.
From Nature ● May 8, 2018
That done, they ground them up and centrifuged the result.
From Economist ● Jun. 16, 2016
So, on Monday, Richards received a stem-cell shot, centrifuged from his own bone marrow, into his elbow.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2016
She centrifuged, precipitated, filtered and stained over and over, using every qualitative procedure in the book.
From Mate in Two Moves by Winston K. Marks
Supaporn worked at a third station, centrifuging bat blood to separate the plasma.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 13, 2022
The RNA precipitate was pelleted by centrifuging at 4,000 r.p.m. for 10 min at 4 °C. The pellet was rinsed with 1 ml 70% ethanol, air dried, and dissolved in RNase-free water.
From Nature ● Oct. 10, 2017
Supernatant was removed and DNA was washed in 100 μl ice cold 70% ethanol by mixing and centrifuging for 5 min.
From Nature ● Sep. 19, 2017
Instead of centrifuging out plant proteins, “Why not just eat the vegetables?” asked Marion Nestle, author of “Food Politics” and professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University.
From New York Times ● Aug. 23, 2014
There they separated out 93 by repeating a tedious sequence of heating, evaporating, dissolving, precipitating, and centrifuging over three long days.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions 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.
