We've explored the word undiluted before: it's perfect for describing things that are as strong, as powerful, and as effective as they possibly can be, with nothing having weakened them or watered them down.

Let's turn now to dilute, the verb at the heart of undiluted. To dilute things is to weaken them, to water them down: to reduce their strength, power, efficacy, purity, or concentration.

In its most literal sense, dilute means "to wash apart." So, it's related to other terms that have something to do with washing, watering, or flooding, like lotion; d_lu_e ("a powerful flood"); a___dilu___n ("before the flood: so old that it predates the great flood from the book of Genesis"); and ap__s n__s le d_lu__ ("after us, the flood: an attitude of not caring what happens after you die").

Some close opposites of dilute include concentrate ("to squeeze something down into its purest form") and, even more precisely, dis____ ("to squeeze something down into its purest form as if by boiling away any water from within it"). That last word with the blanks most literally means "to drip apart, or to drop apart," which explains why it has the same prefix (di- or dis-, meaning "apart") as its opposite, dilute.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  

Inside the word "dilute," you can sort of see some Latin bits that mean "apart" (dis-) and "to wash" (lavere).

To dilute something is to "wash it apart," pretty much: to water it down, making it less strong or less powerful.

Dilution is often literal, as in "This apple juice was way too strong, so I diluted it with water." It can also be figurative, as in "Those modern English versions of Shakespeare plays are great, but they dilute the humor."

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Most often a verb, the transitive kind: "The ice melted and diluted my soda."

Other forms: 

The other verb forms are "diluted" and "diluting," and the noun is "dilution."

"Dilute" is also an adjective: "I don't really enjoy dilute soda." The more common adjective, though, seems to be "diluted:" "I don't really enjoy diluted soda." Its opposite, "undiluted," is especially powerful; we explore it here.

how to use it:

Pick the word "dilute" when you want to sound serious and scientific as you describe how one thing, added in, weakens another.

You might talk literally about diluting paint, bleach, dyes, perfumes, medicines, beverages, and other powerful liquids, often with water.

And to be figurative, you might talk about a pain that dilutes your joy, or a joy that dilutes your pain. A cold or other illness might dilute your food's taste and smell. A translation might dilute an original text's message or style. And some problem or mistake might dilute the impact or value of some article, book, show, movie, song, performance, recipe, or meal.

examples:

"[Sesame Street] diluted its appeal to preschoolers with jokes aimed only at adults. Yet it succeeded anyway." 
  — Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point, 2002

"He didn't answer when spoken to; in fact, he seemed barely present. I had no idea what was going on, but this was not my dear, clever Harry. No, this was some dilute, watery version of him."  
  — Jacqueline Kelly, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, 2009

has this page helped you understand "dilute"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "dilute" without saying "water down" or "weaken."

try it out:

A reviewer called the book Huế 1968 "stellar" overall, with this small complaint:

"A reader may begin to experience fatigue, since the power of the narrative is diluted by too many stories, and stories that are not fully told or connected."

Could you make a similar complaint about some other book, or maybe a TV show or movie? In your opinion, was the story's power diluted a little or a lot?

I'll complain about Twin Peaks. I thought the impact of the show got diluted by too many characters and too many plotlines, especially the ones that never got resolved.

If you can't think of an example, try talking about a story whose power got diluted by some other factor: maybe an obnoxious laugh track, terrible music, stiff dialogue, bad pacing, or some other flaw that seemed to water the whole thing down.

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "That's A New One!"

I'll define and describe an amusing term that Dictionary.com has recently embraced. See if you can come up with it, and if you need more hints, you can reveal them by highlighting the black bits. To see the answer, scroll all the way down. 

Try this one today:

According to Dictionary.com, it's "a person who possesses a specific genetic mutation that renders them completely resistant to a particular virus."

It entered English around the year 2022.

It's one word.

It's probably modeled after a similar-looking word that means "a person who spreads a virus more quickly than other infected people do, or a crowded event where many people get inflected all at once."

It starts with the letter... S.

Its number of syllables is...four.

Its first three letters are... SUP.

review this word:

1. We looked earlier at the precise opposites of DILUTE. But a pretty close opposite of DILUTE is

A. CURL.
B. CRINKLE.
C. CONDENSE.

2. Knowing the meaning of "dilute," you can figure that out, in homeopathy, a dilutionist is someone who _____, believing this process to strengthen the substances' power.

A. adds water to substances
B. shakes substances vigorously
C. administers substances at random

Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. A From the game: superdodger, probably modeled after superspreader.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.