effusion

nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #11,824 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: effusions

An effusion is an outpouring, of liquid or of feeling. An effusion of praise, a pleural effusion, effusions of gratitude.

The emotional sense is faintly mocking, since calling a speech an effusion says it ran on. In medicine it is exact and serious: an effusion is fluid collecting where it should not, as around a lung or a joint.

Definitions of effusion

1nouneffusionAn outpouring, of liquid or of feeling.C2
“She was embarrassed by his effusion of praise after her short speech.”

effusion is an outpouring.

Where it comes from

Latin effusio comes from effundere, to pour out, from ex- plus fundere, to pour.

Latin
effūsiō — outpouring
Middle French
effusion
English, today
effusion

Middle French effusion, from Latin effūsiō (“outpouring”). Displaced native Old English āgotennes.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

effusion in the wild

Graham's law of effusion (also called Graham's law of diffusion) was formulated by Scottish physical chemist Thomas Graham in 1848.
Graham's law
Graham found experimentally that the rate of effusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of the molar mass of its particles.
Graham's law
In children with otitis media with effusion, antibiotics may increase resolution of symptoms, but may cause diarrhoea, vomiting, and skin rash.
Otitis media
A pleural effusion is accumulation of excessive fluid in the pleural space, the potential space that surrounds each lung.
Pleural effusion
As in typical Meigs syndrome, pleural effusion resolves after removal of the pelvic mass.
Meigs's syndrome

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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