Word.ws English Dictionary

detank

detank verb: to empty (some substance) from a tank.

Verb

detank (third-person singular simple present detanks, present participle detanking, simple past and past participle detanked)

  1. (transitive) To empty (some substance) from a tank.
    • During the test, the conformal skin heaters were operated and exercised to simulate various thermal conditions; the cabin was pressurized and depressurized; simulated propellant was detanked; […]1974, NASA technical note (part 7612, page 53)
  2. (transitive) To empty (a vehicle or equipment, or its tanks).
    • The number two oxygen tank in the Service Module could not be detanked properly after the countdown demonstration test.1970, Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Symposium Proceedings, volumes 14-15, page 127

Forms of detank

third-person singular presentdetanks
present participledetanking
past participledetanked
pastdetanked

Origin of detank

From de- + tank.

Questions about detank

What does detank mean?
Detank means to empty (some substance) from a tank.
What part of speech is detank?
Detank is a verb.
What is the past tense of detank?
The past tense of detank is detanked.

Words near detank in the dictionary

  1. detangled
  2. detangler
  3. detanglers
  4. detangles
  5. detangling
  6. detank
  7. detanked
  8. detanking
  9. detanks
  10. detarget
  11. detargeted

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: detank (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “detank.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/detank. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.