saline

[sey-leen, -lahyn]

adjective

of, containing, or resembling common table salt; salty or saltlike: a saline solution.

of or relating to a chemical salt, especially of sodium, potassium, magnesium, etc., as used as a cathartic.

of or relating to a method of abortion involving injection of hypertonic saline solution into the amniotic cavity during the second trimester.

noun

a sterile solution of sodium chloride used to dilute medications or for intravenous therapy.

salty water; a salty solution.

Origin of saline

1400–50; Middle English: composed of salt < Latin salīnus salty, equivalent to sal sal + -īnus -ine¹

Related formssa·lin·i·ty

[suh-lin-i-tee] /səˈlɪn ɪ ti/, nounhy·per·sa·line, adjectivehy·per·sa·lin·i·ty, nounnon·sa·line, adjectivenon·sa·lin·i·ty, nounsem·i·sa·line, adjectivesub·sa·line, adjectivesub·sa·lin·i·ty, nounun·sa·line, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for salinity

Historical Examples of salinity

In fact the salinity of the Caspian is only three-eights of that of the ocean.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 4
Various
This was a blow to Sturt, who had hoped to find it free from salinity.
The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work
Ernest Favenc
All the species seem to be more or less indifferent to the salinity of the water.
Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk
Thomas Browne
In the equatorial region between these belts the salinity is markedly less, especially in the eastern part.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 8
Various
They exist in both fresh and salt water, and some species seem capable of thriving in brackish water of any degree of salinity.
The Sea Shore
William S. Furneaux

British Dictionary definitions for salinity

saline

adjective

of, concerned with, consisting of, or containing common salta saline taste

med of or relating to a saline

of, concerned with, consisting of, or containing any chemical salt, esp a metallic salt resembling sodium chloride

noun

med an isotonic solution of sodium chloride in distilled water

Derived Formssalinity (səˈlɪnɪtɪ), noun

Word Origin for saline

C15: from Late Latin salīnus, from Latin sal salt

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

Word Origin and History for salinity

1650s; see saline + -ity.

saline

adj.

"made of salt," c.1500, probably from a Latin word related to salinum "salt cellar" and salinae "salt pits," from sal (genitive salis) "salt" (see salt (n.)). Also in Middle English as a noun meaning "salt pit" (13c.). Saline solution attested from 1833.

salinity in Medicine