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liquid crystal

noun
  1. a liquid having certain crystalline characteristics, especially different optical properties in different directions when exposed to an electric field.
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Origin of liquid crystal

First recorded in 1890–95
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for liquid crystal

liquid crystal

noun
  1. a liquid that has some crystalline characteristics, such as the presence of different optical properties in different directions; a substance in a mesomorphic stateSee also smectic, nematic
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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
liquid crystal in Science

liquid crystal

  1. Any of various liquids in which molecules are regularly arrayed like a solid crystal along one or two dimensions, but are free in the other dimensions as with typical liquids. Liquid crystals often display unusual and often manipulable optical properties such as anisotropic scattering. See more at LCD.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.