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Synonyms

droplet

American  
[drop-lit] / ˈdrɒp lɪt /

noun

  • droplets
    plural
  1. a little drop.


droplet British  
/ ˈdrɒplɪt /

noun

  1. a tiny drop

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of droplet

First recorded in 1600–10; drop + -let


Explanation

A tiny bit of dripping liquid is a droplet. It's so relaxing to take a slow walk in the misty rain, listening to water droplets fall on your umbrella. A droplet is a smaller version of a drop, which you can tell from the diminutive suffix -let, "smaller" (think booklet and piglet). If you're perspiring lightly on a hot day, you'll have droplets of sweat on your forehead, and if you accidentally turn on the spray attachment in the kitchen sink, you should dry those water droplets on the counter. Don't worry too much, though — the main thing to know about droplets is that they're tiny.

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Vocabulary lists containing droplet

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.

See Examples For:

"Essentially, all of this happens because there is a physical relation between the size of a droplet and the size of ice crystals in the clouds and the frequency spectrum," she pointed out.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

An attractive force pulling the particles together is precisely counteracted by pressure produced by the fermions, keeping the droplet from collapsing.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026

A major challenge is controlling what happens after each droplet lands on a surface.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026

One of the biggest advantages of the technique is that the bubbles disappear completely as the droplet dries, leaving behind no residue.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026

Crick brushes a droplet of green off his face and glances around to see if anyone saw.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

Plague is a bacterial disease that can occur in several forms, including pneumonic plague, the most contagious type, which can spread through respiratory droplets.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

Respiratory droplets carrying the Yersinia bacteria are released through coughing or sneezing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

Pneumonic plague is also highly contagious and can spread from person to person via air droplets.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

The epithelial cells engulfed those droplets as well.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 5, 2026

The earth seemed to be cresting a gigantic wave, throwing everyone around her like shaken droplets of water.

From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin

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