vapor
vapors; vaporing
When something that is normally liquid — like water — becomes a visible, gas-like substance floating in the air, it's a vapor.
The fog that often settles across your town in the mornings is one kind of vapor. Mist is also a vapor, as is your frozen breath when you can see it on a cold winter day. The Latin root word is vaporem, "exhalation, steam, or heat."
Definitions of vapor
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a visible suspension in the air of particles of some substance
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synonyms:
vapour
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types:
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steam
water at boiling temperature diffused in the atmosphere
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water vapor, water vapour
water in a vaporous form diffused in the atmosphere but below boiling temperature
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live steam
steam coming from a boiler at full pressure
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spray
water in small drops in the atmosphere; blown from waves or thrown up by a waterfall
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type of:
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suspension
a mixture in which fine particles are suspended in a fluid where they are supported by buoyancy
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the process of becoming a vapor
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synonyms:
evaporation, vaporisation, vaporization, vapour
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types:
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boiling
the application of heat to change something from a liquid to a gas
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clouding, clouding up
the process whereby water particles become visible in the sky
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smoke, smoking
a hot vapor containing fine particles of carbon being produced by combustion
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decoction mashing, decoction process
(brewing) a process in which part of the mash is removed and boiled and then returned
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type of:
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phase change, phase transition, physical change, state change
a change from one state (solid or liquid or gas) to another without a change in chemical composition
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘vapor'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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