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Synonyms

pipette

American  
[pahy-pet, pi-] / paɪˈpɛt, pɪ- /
Or pipet

noun

  1. a slender graduated tube used in a laboratory for measuring and transferring quantities of liquids from one container to another.

verb (used with object)

pipetted, pipetting

  1. to measure or transfer a quantity of a liquid with a pipette.

pipette British  
/ pɪˈpɛt /

noun

  1. a calibrated glass tube drawn to a fine bore at one end, filled by sucking liquid into the bulb, and used to transfer or measure known volumes of liquid

"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

verb

  1. (tr) to transfer or measure out (a liquid) using a pipette

"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
pipette Scientific  
/ pī-pĕt′ /

  1. A graduated narrow glass tube, often with an enlarged bulb, used for transferring measured volumes of liquids.

Etymology

Origin of pipette

From French, dating back to 1830–40; pipe 1, -ette

Explanation

One of the tools in a chemistry lab is a pipette, a glass tube used to move liquids. If you were examining a chemical under your microscope, you'd use a pipette to put a drop on your slide. Some pipettes are used for measuring small amounts of liquid, but the most common use is transporting them from one place to another. When you squeeze a small bulb attached to the pipette, the vacuum you've created sucks fluid up into the slender glass instrument. Think of an eye dropper, the most commonly-used type of pipette. The word comes from Middle French, in which it means "tube."

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Vocabulary lists containing pipette

Power Suffix: -ette

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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.

With a pipette, she places a single drop of this liquid on a gold-coated glass plate positioned under an optical microscope.

From Science Daily • Oct. 23, 2025

A disposable lancet must pierce the skin, before drops of blood can be sucked into a pipette, mixed with a chemical and placed in the test cassette.

From BBC • Mar. 4, 2025

Holding a pipette carefully in one hand, Laxamana talked through the radio to troubleshoot the problem.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 1, 2024

Terrica Purvis squinted through goggles as her hands carefully guided a pipette full of indigo-tinted fluid into clear glass test tubes.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 24, 2023

The camera was facing a petri dish where a gloved hand holding a pipette was adding something to the solution.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

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.