surfactant

/səɹˈfæktənt/

surfactant noun: a surface-active agent, or wetting agent, capable of reducing the surface tension of a liquid; typically organic compounds having a hydrophilic “head” and a hydrophobic “tail”.

Noun

surfactant (plural surfactants)

A surface-active agent, or wetting agent, capable of reducing the surface tension of a liquid; typically organic compounds having a hydrophilic “head” and a hydrophobic “tail”.
- Dr. Khorana added that this is especially true of cleansers that feature surfactants like sodium lauryl sulfate, as this class of ingredients can cause “dryness, irritation and eczema.”2023 December 6, Jessica DeFino, “Too Many Products Can Stress Out Your Skin. Here’s How to Scale Back.”, in The New York Times
Synonyms:

tenside
A lipoprotein in the tissues of the lung that reduces surface tension and permits more efficient gas transport.
- It is conceivable that impairment of surfactant proteins is due to rheological and immunodefensive disorders of testis and epididymis or prostate.2015 November 25, “Expression and Localization of Lung Surfactant Proteins in Human Testis”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI

surfactant meaning in Tamil, Arabic, Persian and Thai

surfactant in Tamil

மேற்பரப்புச் செயலி, பரப்பியங்கி, மேல் பரப்பி

surfactant in Arabic

surface active agent: عَامِل سَطْحِيّ ʕāmil saṭḥiyy

surfactant in Persian

surface active agent: ماده فعال سطحی

surfactant in Thai

surface active agent: สารลดแรงตึงผิว sǎan-lót-rɛɛng-dtʉng-pǐu

More languagesFewer languages

surfactant in Vietnamese: chất hoạt động bề mặt

Examples of surfactant in a sentence

The surfactant showed comparatively high emulsification index over Gingelly oil at the rate of 71%.
The study consisted of a screening design evaluating protein, buffer, tonicifying agent, cryoprotectant, surfactant, and pH levels.
Column studies have demonstrated the advantage of using misable solvents over surfactants.

All 16 example sentences with surfactant

Synonyms of surfactant

tenside

Forms of surfactant

plural	surfactants

Plural of surfactant: surfactants

Origin of surfactant

Blend of surface-active + agent.

Words formed from surfactant

Questions about surfactant

What does surfactant mean?: Surfactant means a surface-active agent, or wetting agent, capable of reducing the surface tension of a liquid; typically organic compounds having a hydrophilic “head” and a hydrophobic “tail”.
What is surfactant in Tamil?: Surfactant in Tamil is மேற்பரப்புச் செயலி, பரப்பியங்கி, மேல் பரப்பி. See Surfactant meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is surfactant?: Surfactant is a noun.
How do you pronounce surfactant?: Surfactant is pronounced /səɹˈfæktənt/.
What is the plural of surfactant?: The plural of surfactant is surfactants.

Words near surfactant in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: surfactant (page history and authors); surfactant (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-surfactant.wav.

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