Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Tending to dilate; dilating.
  • adjective Exhibiting dilatancy.
  • noun A dilator.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Dilating; relating to dilatancy, or to a substance possessing this property.
  • noun A substance having the property of dilatancy.
  • noun In surgery, an instrument used to dilate, as a tent, a bougie, a sound, etc.
  • noun In physical, the liquid or gas, within a dilatometer, the expansion of which is to be measured.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Tending to dilate, or causing dilation
  • adjective physics Exhibiting dilatancy
  • noun A dilator.
  • noun physics A substance whose viscosity increases with rate of shear.

Etymologies

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Examples

Comments

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  • Law & Order - Season 12, Episode 8 - "The Fire This Time"

    June 11, 2007

  • Are you sure you didn't hear dilettante?

    June 12, 2007

  • Don't know what thinkcharlene heard, but (to my surprise) this is actually a word. A dilatant material is one in which viscosity increases with the rate of shear (also termed shear thickening)--like Silly Putty. :-)

    June 12, 2007

  • I also looked up this word, but it didn't sound like something that would be said in Law and Order.

    June 13, 2007

  • See citation in comment on rheopexy.

    April 7, 2017