isotonic
Americanadjective
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Physical Chemistry. Also noting or pertaining to solutions characterized by equal osmotic pressure.
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Physiology.
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noting or pertaining to a solution containing the same salt concentration as mammalian blood.
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noting or pertaining to a muscular contraction in which constant tension continues while the length of the muscle decreases, as during mechanical work.
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Music. of or characterized by equal tones.
adjective
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physiol (of two or more muscles) having equal tension
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(of a drink) designed to replace the fluid and salts lost from the body during strenuous exercise
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Also: isosmotic. (of two solutions) having the same osmotic pressure, commonly having physiological osmotic pressure Compare hypertonic hypotonic
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music of, relating to, or characterized by the equal intervals of the well-tempered scale
isotonic tuning
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of isotonic
1820–30; < Greek isóton ( os ) having equal accent or tone ( see iso-, tone) + -ic
Vocabulary lists containing isotonic
Cell Biology - High School
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Chemistry - High School
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Physical Education - 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.
Hydration breaks, ice jackets, cooling towels and isotonic drinks have been a feature of the World Cup so far as hot weather impacts matches.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
Many marine invertebrates have internal salt levels matched to their environments, making them isotonic with the water in which they live.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Saline at a concentration that is isotonic with respect to body fluids.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Sports drinks can be divided into hypotonic, isotonic, and hypertonic.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021
The method depends on the principle that solutions isotonic to the blood corpuscles and to the blood serum will not alter the volume of the blood corpuscles, whereas hypertonic solutions decrease that volume.
From The Mechanism of Life by Leduc, Stéphane
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.