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Apr 11, 2024
This week’s theme
Words from chem lab

This week’s words
precipitate
titrate
crucible
volatile
sublimate

volatile
Illustration: Anu Garg + AI

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volatile

PRONUNCIATION:
(VOL-uh-tuhl/tyl)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Fluctuating widely and unpredictably.
2. Evaporating easily.
3. Explosive.
4. Capable of flying.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin volare (to fly), which also gave us volitant, vole, and volley. Earliest documented use: 1325.

USAGE:
“She decided not to rely on Rhy’s good nature, which was a chancy thing at best. Rhy was hair-triggered, volatile, never predictable.”
Linda Howington; An Independent Wife; Harlequin; 1982.

See more usage examples of volatile in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead. -Leo Rosten, author (11 Apr 1908-1997)

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