diluere

Diluere is a Latin verb meaning to dilute or thin a liquid by adding water, as well as to wash away, cleanse, or dilute in a broader sense. In classical usage it often carried the sense of cleansing or washing out, but in later Latin it developed a more specialized meaning related to thinning substances and reducing strength or concentration. The verb also appears in figurative contexts, where something can be diluted or attenuated in intensity, importance, or effect.

The verb belongs to the third conjugation and has the principal parts diluō, diluere, diliuī, dilūtum. This binomial stem allows a range of ordinary forms in the present, imperfect, and future tenses as well as perfect and pluperfect. Common inflected forms include diluit (he dilutes) in the present active and diluitur (it is diluted) in the present passive; diluī and dilūtum appear in the perfect and supine respectively. The passive participle is dilūtus.

Usage examples in Latin range from practical to figurative. A typical culinary or laboratory use is Vinum aquā diluit, “he dilutes the wine with water,” or Lac diluitur aquā, “the milk is diluted with water.” In historical texts it can denote cleansing by washing away undesired matter, and metaphorically it may describe attenuating the force or significance of something, such as dilūtio sententiā or dilūtio praeceptō, depending on context.

Derivatives include dilūtus, meaning diluted, and dilūtio, the process or result of dilution. The noun can refer to a dilution or thinning of a quantity, while the verb remains a standard term in Latin scientific and everyday writing.

See also: dilution, liquefaction, cleansing.