evaporation

noun

evap·​o·​ra·​tion i-ˌva-pə-ˈrā-shən 

: the act or process of evaporating:

a

: change from a liquid to a vapor

evaporation of water

But warming increases the evaporation of ocean water, which could increase the snowfall on the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, remove water from the ocean, and lower sea level.

—Jack M. Hollander

b

: the vanishing or disappearance of something

The pope's attempt to arrest the evaporation of the Christian tradition in Europe was also unsuccessful.

—Conrad Black

No longer a machine that accelerates the evaporation of resources, in the Roman context the banquet becomes a theatre of wealth and property, of social distinction, or social-climbing.

—James N. Davidson

Examples of evaporation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But Grow Cei said this time of year there is less evaporation. —Jan Ellen Spiegel, Hartford Courant, 27 Nov. 2024

There's more evaporation resulting in storms simply having more to work with. —Brittney Melton, NPR, 22 Nov. 2024

But an underappreciated corollary has been the evaporation of Moscow’s stabilizing security presence in its own backyard. —Charlie Campbell / Yerevan, TIME, 22 Oct. 2024

This means two things: 1) There was an extreme degree of evaporation driving these isotope values to be so heavy, and 2) These heavier values were preserved so any processes that would create lighter isotope values must have been significantly smaller in magnitude. —David Szondy, New Atlas, 8 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

evaporation

noun

evap·​o·​ra·​tion

i-ˌvap-ə-ˈrā-shən

: the process of evaporating

Medical Definition

evaporation

noun

evap·​o·​ra·​tion i-ˌvap-ə-ˈrā-shən 

: the change by which any substance is converted from a liquid state into and carried off in vapor

specifically : the conversion of a liquid into vapor in order to remove it wholly or partly from a liquid of higher boiling point or from solids dissolved in or mixed with it

evaporate

i-ˈvap-ə-ˌrāt 

verb

evaporated; evaporating

evaporator

-ˌrāt-ər 

noun