depilatory
Americanadjective
noun
-
depilatories
plural
-
a depilatory agent.
-
such an agent in a mild liquid or cream form for temporarily removing unwanted hair from the body.
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of depilatory
1595–1605; < Medieval Latin dēpilātōrius < Latin dēpilā ( re ) ( see depilate) + -tōrius -tory 1
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:
Since this is feel-good TV, McKinnon quietly strides over to the man and places a can of depilatory powder on his sink top, giving him a meaningful look before walking away.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2025
Girls are often introduced to depilatory products and techniques by relatives, borrowing razors and trying to imitate their mothers.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 29, 2020
Gottlieb was, in the early sixties, put in charge of a plan to depose Fidel Castro by making his beard fall out, but he couldn’t figure out how to deploy a depilatory.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 26, 2019
Instead, members come to the Wax Club on Chambers Street for hair removal, paying $89 each month, plus tax and gratuities, for unlimited depilatory services.
From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2016
I used to believe that the expression “caught by the short hairs” meant a captive held with a depilatory string.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
A curious account of hair-erasing, and why people have tried clamshell razors, lasers, lye depilatories, tweezers, waxes, threading and electrolysis to try and free themselves from hairiness.
From Economist ● Dec. 3, 2015
And whole categories of ads are barred from The New Yorker's pages, including ads for vitamin tablets, slimming devices and depilatories.
From Newsweek ● Feb. 20, 2015
No matter what expensive and complex weapons are used — razor blades, electric shavers, tweezers, waxing, depilatories, electrolysis — hair, like crab grass, always grows back and eventually wins.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2012
Neet, first hair-remover to be marketed in cream form, had a 1928 sale equal to half that of all other depilatories combined, and earned more than $200,000 in the six months ending June 30, 1929.
From Time Magazine Archive
Recipes for hair-dyes, depilatories, eye-lotions, tooth-powders, soaps, lip-salves, ointments, cosmetics, skin-preservers, wart-destroyers, pearl-powders, rouges, are followed up with sound advice about craft, fraud, force, feigned passion, entangling manœuvres, crocodile tears, and secrecy in self-indulgence.
From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by John Addington Symonds
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