compressibility

American  

[kuhm-pres-uh-bil-i-tee] / kəmˌprɛs əˈbɪl ɪ ti /

noun

plural

compressibilities

1. the quality or state of being compressible.

2. Physics. the reciprocal of the bulk modulus, equal to the ratio of the fractional change in volume to the stress applied to a body.

---

compressibility British  

/ kəmˌprɛsɪˈbɪlɪtɪ /

noun

1. the ability to be compressed

2.  k.  physics the reciprocal of the bulk modulus; the ratio of volume strain to stress at constant temperature

---

Other Word Forms

• noncompressibility noun

Etymology

Origin of compressibility

First recorded in 1685–95; compressible ( def. ) + -ity

Example Sentences

Other properties, including compressibility and heat capacity, also behave in increasingly unusual ways as the temperature decreases.

From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026

Properties such as density, heat capacity, viscosity, and compressibility respond to temperature and pressure in ways that are opposite to what scientists see in typical substances.

From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026

Water is unlike most other liquids on Earth: it has at least 66 weird properties, including high surface tension, high heat capacity, high melting and boiling points and low compressibility.

From Nature • Apr. 7, 2020

At low pressures, the correction factor for intermolecular attractions is more significant, and the effect of the volume of the gas molecules on Z would be a small lowering compressibility.

From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019

His first significant contribution to science concerned the springiness, or compressibility, of air, and involved the most famous experiment of his illustrious career.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin