Deliquesce

//ˌdɛlɪˈkwɛs// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To melt by absorbing water and disappearing. intransitive

    "But I could find no saltpetre; indeed, no nitrates of any kind. Doubtless they had deliquesced ages ago."

  2. 2
    melt or become liquid by absorbing moisture from the air wordnet
  3. 3
    To become liquid by absorbing water from the atmosphere and dissolving in it. intransitive, physical

    "Some salts will deliquesce when left exposed."

  4. 4
    melt away in the process of decay wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abateablatebateconsumecorrodecrumble

Example

More examples

"But I could find no saltpetre; indeed, no nitrates of any kind. Doubtless they had deliquesced ages ago."

Etymology

From Latin dēliquēscō, from dē- + liquēscō (“to liquefy”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.