adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gaseous
Explanation
Describe the form of a substance that's not solid or liquid as gaseous. Gaseous matter will expand to fit an entire container, and it has no volume and no shape. Use the adjective gaseous to describe anything having to do with a gas, or that shares some characteristics with gases. While you can't usually see gaseous particles, you can often smell them. You might comment on the stinky gaseous exhaust from a passing bus, or refer to the gaseous nature of the space between the stars in the universe.
Vocabulary lists containing gaseous
The Water Cycle - Introductory
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Earth Science - Middle School
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The Water Cycle - Middle School and High School
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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.
"What revolutionized DNA sequencing wasn't any change in the underlying chemistry. That's remained fundamentally the same," says Brian T. Chait, Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry and Gaseous Ion Chemistry at Rockefeller.
From Science Daily • Mar. 25, 2026
His paper, “Note on the Transmission of Radiant Heat Through Gaseous Bodies,” published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, did not cite Foote’s work.
From New York Times • Apr. 21, 2020
“We no longer hear anything about environmental issues out west concerning the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and the massive contamination there,” he said, referring to a former uranium-enrichment facility.
From The New Yorker • Mar. 26, 2019
Gaseous butane, C4H10, reacts with diatomic oxygen gas to yield gaseous carbon dioxide and water vapor.
From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019
Gaseous diffusion and the centrifuge appeared to be feasible in theory for the large-scale production of U-235, but both were hobbled by unsolved technical problems, and neither had yet produced any U-235 to speak of.
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.
