dissolvent

[ dih-zol-vuhnt ]

See synonyms for: dissolvent dissolvents on Thesaurus.com

adjective

capable of dissolving another substance.

noun

a solvent.

Origin of dissolvent

First recorded in 1640–50, dissolvent is from the Latin word dissolvent- (stem of dissolvēns, present participle of dissolvere). See dis-¹, solvent

Words Nearby dissolvent

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use dissolvent in a sentence

Drink water by pailfuls: it is a universal dissolvent; water liquefies all the salts.
The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VII (of X)--Continental Europe I | Various
Let us trace the disastrous effects of these three dissolvent forces.
Guilds in the Middle Ages | George Renard
The flesh is white, delicate, partly translucent, easy for our stomachs to digest and no less suited to the grub's dissolvent.
The Life of the Fly | J. Henri Fabre
The dream was agonizing as he tried one dissolvent after another without success.
Philo Gubb Correspondence-School Detective | Ellis Parker Butler
It is enough here to remind ourselves how serious a place is held by that work in the dissolvent literature of the generation.
Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 3 of 3) | John Morley

British Dictionary definitions for dissolvent

dissolvent

/ (dɪˈzɒlvənt) /

noun

a rare word for solvent (def. 3)

adjective

able to dissolve

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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