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liquefy

UK/ˈlɪ.kwɪ.faɪ/US/ˈlɪ.kwɪ.faɪ/
verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,894 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: liquefied, liquefying, liquefies

To liquefy is to turn something into a liquid. Liquefy the mixture, gas liquefies, liquefy under pressure.

Gases are liquefied by cooling and pressure, which is how they are shipped — liquefied natural gas takes about six hundred times less space than the gas. In earthquakes, soil liquefaction turns wet ground to slurry and buildings sink. Note the spelling, with an e rather than an i in the middle.

Definitions of liquefy

  1. 1verbliquefyTo turn something into a liquid.C1

    “If the honey has gone hard, warm the jar gently until it liquefies.”

liquefy is a turning to liquid.

Where it comes from

Latin liquefacere is liquere, to be fluid, plus facere, to make. Liquid and liquor come from the same fluidity.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *dʰeh₁-

  2. Latin

    liquefacere

  3. Anglo-Norman

    liquefier

  4. Middle English

    liquefien

  5. English, today

    liquefy

From Middle English liquefien, from Anglo-Norman liquefier, from Latin liquefacere.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

liquefy in the wild

  • Hydrogen requires a theoretical minimum of 3.3 kWh/kg to liquefy, and 3.9 kWh/kg including converting the hydrogen to the para isomer.

    Liquid hydrogen

  • Heike Kamerlingh Onnes was a Dutch experimental physicist who became the first to liquefy helium, cooling it to near 1.5 kelvin (K).

    Heike Kamerlingh Onnes

  • A liquid air cycle engine uses liquid hydrogen (LH2) fuel to liquefy the air.

    Liquid air cycle engine

  • Gases can be refined in this way as well, by being cooled and/or compressed until they liquefy.

    Refining

  • Another large project, completed in 2020, expanded the facility to liquefy and export natural gas.

    Elba Island (Georgia)

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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.