dissolvent
Americanadjective
noun
noun
adjective
Etymology
Origin of dissolvent
First recorded in 1640–50, dissolvent is from the Latin word dissolvent- (stem of dissolvēns, present participle of dissolvere ). See dis- 1, solvent
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.
Some of them preferred cementation; others sought the universal alkahest, or dissolvent; and some of them boasted the great efficacy of the essence of emery.
From Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions — Volume 3 by Mackay, Charles
This striking pair were the two complements of a single noble and solid type, holding tenaciously, in a century of dissolvent speculation, to the best ideas of a society that was slowly passing.
From Burke by Morley, John
The subjects are chosen almost at random, and are very frequently nothing but pegs on which to hang notes and digressions in which the author indulges his critical and dissolvent faculty.
From A Short History of French Literature by Saintsbury, George
The Reformation," according to H. A. L. Fisher, "was the great dissolvent of European conservatism.
From The Age of the Reformation by Smith, Preserved
The French Revolution, which extinguished feudalism as a system and the nobility as a privileged class, speedily ceased to be a mere dissolvent.
From The Inside Story of the Peace Conference by Dillon, Emile Joseph
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.
