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dilute

/daɪˈluːt//daɪˈluːt/·verb
to make a liquid weaker or thinner by adding more of something; to weaken
Fig. 1 — A single heavy drop of colour falls into a beaker of clear water and, where it lands, it's almost black — all of itself crowded into one point.
01Definition

To dilute is to weaken by spreading thin — classically by adding water, so a strong solution becomes mild. From the Latin diluere, 'to wash away', it keeps that sense of strength draining out: dilute the acid, dilute the juice. Figuratively, anything concentrated can be diluted — a message, a brand, a share of power — when it is stretched across too much. It is the opposite of saturate: where one packs more in, the other thins it out until little force remains.

02In use
  • iAlways dilute the acrid concentrate with three parts water before drinking.
  • iiAdding too many managers only diluted each one's authority.
  • iiiEndless reprints diluted the brand until its value began to deplete.
03Collocations
  • dilute a solution
  • heavily diluted
  • dilute the impact
  • dilute control

Family dilution (noun) · diluted (adjective)

04Relations

=thin, water down, weaken, attenuate, temper

≠concentrate, saturate, strengthen

05Compared
PairThe difference
dilute vs dilatean opening widens (pupils, vessels) → dilate; a liquid or strength is thinned by adding more → dilute.
dilute vs dissolvea solid breaking apart into a liquid → dissolve; an existing solution weakened by adding more liquid → dilute.
06TOEFL & IELTS

TOEFL chemistry passages use 'dilute' and 'dilution' literally (a dilute acid, serial dilution), while business and politics passages use it figuratively — 'dilute the message/the shares/the vote'. In IELTS Writing, 'this dilutes the impact of the policy' is a precise cause-and-effect verb. Note the adjective 'dilute' (a dilute solution) alongside the verb.

07Asked
What is the difference between dilute and concentrated?
They are the two ends of one scale. A dilute solution has little solute in a lot of solvent — weak, watery, spread thin. A concentrated solution packs a lot of solute into little solvent — strong. To dilute is to move a solution toward the weak end by adding solvent, usually water. Concentrate is the reverse: drive the water off.
How do you dilute a solution?
Add more solvent — usually water — while keeping the amount of dissolved substance the same. The solute is unchanged; it is simply shared across more liquid, so every drop is weaker. The scene above is the definition in a beaker: one heavy drop of colour blooms outward until the whole is a pale, even wash, and not a speck has left.
What does 'dilute' mean figuratively?
To weaken something by spreading it too thin — a message diluted across too many goals, a brand diluted by cheap spin-offs, voting power diluted when new shares are issued. The physical picture carries over intact: nothing is removed, but stretched across too much, it loses its force. 'This dilutes the impact' is the classic essay use.
Is 'dilute' a verb or an adjective?
Both. The verb is the action ('dilute the acid before use'); the adjective describes the result ('a dilute acid', 'a dilute solution'), sitting where 'diluted' also works. Chemistry favours the bare adjective dilute; everyday English tends to say diluted. The stress stays the same either way: dye-LOOT.
What is the noun form of dilute?
Dilution — 'dilute the sample by a factor of ten' becomes 'a tenfold dilution'. In chemistry, serial dilution is the repeated halving or tenfolding used to reach very low concentrations, one dilution feeding the next. The noun is where the precise, quantitative side of the word lives.
What is the opposite of dilute?
Concentrate — to make stronger by removing solvent or adding solute — with saturate at the far extreme, packing in as much as the liquid will hold. On this site the antonym pairing runs to saturate: where one thins a solution out, the other crams it full, two scenes that mirror each other.