flocculent

[ flok-yuh-luh nt ]

/ ˈflɒk yə lənt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR flocculent ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

like a clump or tuft of wool.

covered with a soft, woolly substance.

consisting of or containing loose woolly masses.

flocky.

Chemistry. consisting of flocs and floccules.

RELATED WORDS

downy, fluffy, woolly

Nearby words

Origin of flocculent

First recorded in 1790–1800; flocc(us) + -ulent

Related formsfloc·cu·lence, floc·cu·len·cy, nounfloc·cu·lent·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for flocculent

The liquid becomes cloudy and flocculent, and small bits of shreddy matter fall to the bottom of the vessel.
Donahoe's Magazine, Volume XV, No. 3|Various
The precipitate is a very pale green colour, flocculent at first, but crystalline after washing.
Field's Chromatography|George Field
If a brown, flocculent precipitate is formed, the sample contains pure vanilla extract.
Human Foods and Their Nutritive Value|Harry Snyder
In each gall are colonies of the aphis surrounded by a mass of flocculent secretion.
Garden Pests in New Zealand|D. Miller

With chloride of platina it forms a flocculent uncrystallized precipitate, which decomposes on the liquid being heated.
Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume III|Karl Ritter von Scherzer

British Dictionary definitions for flocculent

flocculent

/ (ˈflɒkjʊlənt) /

adjective

like wool; fleecy

chem aggregated in woolly cloudlike massesa flocculent precipitate

biology covered with tufts or flakes of a waxy or wool-like substance

Derived Formsflocculence or flocculency, nounflocculently, adverb

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

Word Origin and History for flocculent

flocculent

adj.

"resembling wool," 1800, from Latin floccus "lock of hair, flock of wool" + -ulent. Related: Floculence.

Medicine definitions for flocculent

flocculent

[ flŏk′yə-lənt ]

adj.

Having a fluffy or wooly appearance.

Containing numerous shreds or fluffy particles of grayish or white mucus or other material. Used of a fluid such as urine.

Of or being a fluid bacterial culture in which there are numerous colonies either floating in the fluid medium or loosely deposited at the bottom.

Having a soft waxy or wool-like covering, as of certain insects.

Related formsfloc′cu•lence n.