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viscosity

Viscosity is the thickness of a liquid. Water flows easily. Honey does not — that's why it has greater viscosity than water.

Viscosity, pronounced "vis-KOSS-ih-tee," tells you how sticky a liquid is. In the working of machines and car engines, viscosity is important. Thick oils and lubricants that have high viscosity, meaning they coat and cling, keep hard metal parts from wearing down as they rub together. Oils with dense viscosity keep machine parts from having too much friction and burning out.

DEFINITIONS OF: viscosity

1

n resistance of a liquid to shear forces (and hence to flow)

Synonyms:
viscousness
Types:
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stickiness
the property of sticking to a surface
sliminess
a property resembling or being covered with slime
cohesiveness, glueyness, gluiness, gumminess, ropiness, tackiness, viscidity, viscidness
the property of being cohesive and sticky
gelatinousness, glutinosity, glutinousness
the property of having a viscosity like jelly
adherence, adhesion, adhesiveness, bond
the property of sticking together (as of glue and wood) or the joining of surfaces of different composition
Type of:
body, consistence, consistency, eubstance
the property of holding together and retaining its shape
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