dehydrate
/di:'haidreit/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb (transitive):
- To remove water or moisture from something; to cause something to lose water: This is the primary meaning, referring to the process of extracting water from a substance, often for preservation.
- To deprive the body of water; to cause someone to lose too much water: This meaning describes the physiological effect on a living organism, leading to a state of dehydration.
Verb (intransitive):
- To lose water or moisture; to become dry: This describes the process that a substance or organism undergoes when water is removed.
Usage and Examples
- Transitive Verb (to remove water):
- The machine will dehydrate the fruit to make dried snacks.
- You can dehydrate herbs to preserve their flavor for longer.
- Transitive Verb (to cause bodily water loss):
- The intense heat and exercise can quickly dehydrate an athlete.
- Illnesses that cause vomiting can dehydrate a patient.
- Intransitive Verb (to lose water):
- Without rain, the soil will dehydrate and crack.
- Your body begins to dehydrate if you don't drink enough fluids.
Advanced Usage
- In a scientific/technical context: The term is precise and describes a controlled process.
- The laboratory procedure is to dehydrate the sample using a chemical desiccant before analysis.
- In a medical context: Often used to describe a harmful condition.
- The doctor warned that the fever could dehydrate the child dangerously.
Variants and Related Words
- Dehydration (noun): The state or process of being dehydrated.
- Severe dehydration requires immediate medical attention.
- Dehydrated (adjective): Describing something from which water has been removed, or a person suffering from a lack of water.
- We ate dehydrated meals on the hiking trip.
- The marathon runner felt weak and dehydrated.
Synonyms
- Desiccate: To dry out thoroughly. (More formal/scientific)
- Dry (out): A more general and common term for removing moisture.
- Parch: To make dry and hot, often used for land or throat.
Antonyms
- Hydrate: To cause to absorb water.
- Moisten: To make slightly wet.
- Rehydrate: To restore water or moisture to something that has been dehydrated.
Related Phrases/Idioms
- (To be/become) dehydrated: This is the standard phrase to describe the state resulting from the verb's action.
- It's easy to become dehydrated in this climate without realizing it.
- Dehydrated food: A common compound noun referring to food preserved by having most of its water removed.
- Backpackers often carry dehydrated food to save weight.
Verb
- lose water or moisture
- In the desert, you get dehydrated very quickly
- remove water from
- All this exercise and sweating has dehydrated me
- preserve by removing all water and liquids from
- carry dehydrated food on your camping trip