coagulate
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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coagulates,
present (3rd person singular)
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coagulated,
past participle, past
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coagulating
present participle
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to change from a fluid into a thickened mass; curdle; congeal.
Let the pudding stand two hours until it coagulates.
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Biology. (of blood) to form a clot.
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Physical Chemistry. (of colloidal particles) to flocculate or cause to flocculate by adding an electrolyte to an electrostatic colloid.
adjective
verb
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to cause (a fluid, such as blood) to change into a soft semisolid mass or (of such a fluid) to change into such a mass; clot; curdle
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chem to separate or cause to separate into distinct constituent phases
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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anticoagulationnoun
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coagulabilitynoun
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coagulationnoun
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noncoagulationnoun
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recoagulationnoun
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recoagulateverb
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anticoagulatingadjective
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coagulableadjective
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coagulativeadjective
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coagulatoryadjective
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noncoagulatingadjective
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noncoagulativeadjective
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uncoagulatedadjective
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uncoagulatingadjective
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uncoagulativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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coagulatesimple
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coagulatessimple
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have coagulatedperfect
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has coagulatedperfect
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am coagulatingprogressive
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are coagulatingprogressive
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is coagulatingprogressive
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have been coagulatingperfect progressive
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has been coagulatingperfect progressive
Past
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coagulatedsimple
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had coagulatedperfect
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was coagulatingprogressive
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were coagulatingprogressive
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had been coagulatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of coagulate
1350–1400 for earlier past participle senses “solidified, clotted,” 1605–15 coagulate for def. 1; Middle English < Latin coāgulāt ( us ) (past participle of coāgulāre ), equivalent to coāgul ( um ) coagulum + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
When liquid starts to thicken and become solid, it coagulates. When you get a cut, the blood flowing from the wound will coagulate: it will start to clot and form a solid scab so you will stop bleeding. Many liquids have the potential to coagulate. If the cream you just poured into your coffee is spoiled, you'll see the cream coagulate as it curdles into little floating chunks. If someone has a heart condition that may result in a heart attack, he or she might take medication that keeps the blood in the arteries from coagulating, or dangerously thickening.
Vocabulary lists containing coagulate
The Wednesday Wars
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Chasing Lincoln's Killer
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Challenge, List 1
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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:
But none has enough gravity to coagulate into a larger planet.
From Salon ● May 10, 2023
But anger, irritation and a fear of imminent defeat can coagulate in ways individuals often can't control.
From BBC ● May 5, 2023
Instead of approaching R&B as a bold exteriorization of the soul, her songs tiptoe inward, toward those quicksand corners of the brain where vivid feelings struggle to coagulate into coherent thoughts.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 30, 2021
Plasma infusion is an approved use by the FDA in trauma settings or in patients whose blood doesn’t coagulate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2019
After suctioning the mucus from my nostrils, she gave me a shot of vitamin K to coagulate my blood.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
“What we are seeing is due to reentry of material—a mixture of burned-up meteors and spacecraft, which slowly coagulates to form particles that settle through the atmosphere,” he says.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 26, 2023
But perhaps their unique feature is how their blood, which is bright blue, coagulates when exposed to harmful bacterial endotoxins, a feature that has kept them alive for about 450 million years.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 30, 2021
Gelatin sets on cooling because the hot aqueous mixture of gelatin coagulates as it cools, yielding an extremely viscous body known as a gel.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019
Unfortunately, as Ms Yazji’s plot thickens, it coagulates.
From Economist ● Dec. 4, 2017
Criminologists had come to understand that blood coagulates at the lowest point of a body after death, producing dark splotches on the skin.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
One TikTok user uploaded a video of the sauce she had ordered, which arrived looking pale and coagulated with dark blue or green specks, according to the footage.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2022
At Klowden Mann Gallery, the Chicago-based artist’s solo L.A. debut has trees aflame in dark and coagulated landscapes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2019
Today, the term has coagulated around the idea of a Type A self-motivated woman who derives strength from her conception of her gender.
From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2018
“Really loose and then weird and coagulated in parts.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2018
Their actions had simply made impressions upon my sensibilities as I lived from day to day, impressions which crystallized and coagulated into clusters and configurations of memory, attitudes, moods, ideas.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
He’ll certainly do the same thing about the blood coagulating at the bottom of his body.
From Slate ● Jul. 18, 2025
Indeed, Yang was surprised to learn that so many had abandoned the pressing step, largely because commodity-manufactured tofu — made by coagulating soy milk then curling it on the tray — is saturated with liquid.
From Salon ● Nov. 13, 2022
“If you think about it, it’s more similar to a dairy product because it’s made from coagulating soy milk.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 6, 2022
How does the endothelium of the blood vessel walls prevent the blood from coagulating as it flows through the blood vessels?
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
He felt the evil coagulating about him, and he was helpless to protect himself.
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
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.
