liquid

Syllables: liq·uid/ˈlɪk.wɪd/

liquid noun: a substance that is flowing, and keeping no shape, such as water; a substance of which the molecules, while not tending to separate from one another like those of a gas, readily change their relative position, and which therefore retains no definite shape, except that determined by the containing receptacle; an inelastic fluid.

Image: José Manuel Suárez from Spain, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

liquid (countable and uncountable, plural liquids)

(physical) A substance that is flowing, and keeping no shape, such as water; a substance of which the molecules, while not tending to separate from one another like those of a gas, readily change their relative position, and which therefore retains no definite shape, except that determined by the containing receptacle; an inelastic fluid.
- A liquid can freeze to become a solid or evaporate into a gas.
- The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.[…]It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led...2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847
Any of a class of consonant sounds that includes l and r.
- Many female forenames are regarded as euphonyms. What is and is not euphonious is necessarily subjective, but it could be suggested that names containing labials (b, m), sibilants (s, sh) and liquids (l, r) are more likely to be euphonyms than those that do not.1996, Adrian Room, An Alphabetical Guide to the Language of Name Studies, page 41
- […]-able does not attach to verbs ending in a postconsonantal liquid […]1999, Ingo Plag, Morphological Productivity, page 86

Adjective

liquid (comparative more liquid, superlative most liquid)

(physical) Flowing freely like water; fluid; not solid and not gaseous; composed of particles that move freely among each other on the slightest pressure.
- liquid nitrogen
Synonyms:

flowy
Easily sold or disposed of without losing value.
Having sufficient trading activity to make buying or selling easy.
Flowing or sounding smoothly or without abrupt transitions or harsh tones.
- a liquid melody
Belonging to a class of consonants comprising the laterals and the rhotics, which in many languages behave similarly.
- /l/ and /r/ are liquid consonants.
Fluid and transparent.
- the liquid air

liquid meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

liquid in Hindi

substance that is liquid: द्रव drav, तरल taral
fluid; not solid and not gaseous: द्रव drav, तरल taral

liquid in Tamil

திரவம், நீர்மம், வழிமம்

liquid in Marathi

substance that is liquid: द्रव drav

liquid in Urdu

substance that is liquid: مائع mā'i'

More languagesFewer languages

liquid in Bengali: তরল torol
liquid in Telugu: జారుడు jāruḍu
liquid in Malayalam: ദ്രാവകം drāvakaṁ
liquid in Kannada: ನೀರು, ದ್ರವ, ದ್ರವ ಸ್ಥಿತಿಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ, ಘನಸ್ತಿತಿಯಲ್ಲಿರುವಂತೆ ನಿರ್ದಿಷ್ಟ ಆಕಾರವಿಲ್ಲದ
liquid in Punjabi: ਤਰਲ taral
liquid in Gujarati: પ્રવાહી
liquid in Odia: ପାଣି pāṇi, ପତଳା pataḷā
liquid in Sinhala: දියරය diyaraya
liquid in Assamese: পনীয়া ponia, জুলীয়া zulia
liquid in Nepali: तरल पदार्थ, तरल
liquid in Pashto: مايع māyé', چیستکی čistakáy
liquid in Tagalog: likido
liquid in Arabic: سَائِل sāʔil, مَائِع māʔiʕ
liquid in Malay: cecair, cairan, cair
liquid in Indonesian: cairan, likuida, cair
liquid in Persian: مایع mâye', آبگونه âbgune
liquid in Thai: ของเหลว kɔ̌ɔng-lěeo, พยัญชนะเหลว, เหลว lěeo
liquid in Vietnamese: nước, chất lỏng, lỏng
liquid in Myanmar: အရည် a.rany

Examples of liquid in a sentence

Shake the test tube well, and the liquid should slowly clear.
A popular myth is that window glass is actually an extremely viscous liquid.
She bathed her eyes with liquid to remove the stinging chemical.

All 40 example sentences with liquid

Synonyms of liquid

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of liquid

Forms of liquid

Noun
plural	liquids
Adjective
comparative	more liquid
superlative	most liquid

Plural of liquid: liquids

Origin of liquid

From Middle English liquide, from Old French liquide, from Latin liquidus (“fluid, liquid, moist”), from liqueō (“to be liquid, be fluid”). Doublet of liquidus. As a term for a consonant, it comes from Latin liquida (cōnsōnāns), a calque of Ancient Greek ὑγρὸν (σύμφωνον) (hugròn (súmphōnon), “liquid consonant”).

Words formed from liquid

Phrases with liquid

34 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with liquid

illiquid

Questions about liquid

What does liquid mean?: Liquid means a substance that is flowing, and keeping no shape, such as water; a substance of which the molecules, while not tending to separate from one another like those of a gas, readily change their relative position, and which therefore retains no definite shape, except that determined by the containing receptacle; an inelastic fluid.
What is liquid in Hindi?: Liquid in Hindi is द्रव (drav), तरल (taral). See Liquid meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is liquid?: Liquid can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce liquid?: Liquid is pronounced /ˈlɪk.wɪd/.
What is the plural of liquid?: The plural of liquid is liquids.

Words near liquid in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: liquid (page history and authors); liquid (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); జారుడు (Telugu) (page history and authors); liquid (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); liquid (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ପତଳା (Odia) (page history and authors); liquid (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-liquid.ogg.

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