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adiabatic - 4 dictionary results

ad⋅i⋅a⋅bat⋅ic

  [ad-ee-uh-bat-ik, ey-dahy-uh-]
Use adiabatic in a Sentence
–adjective
occurring without gain or loss of heat (opposed to diabatic ): an adiabatic process.
Origin:
1875–80; < Gk adiábat(os) incapable of being crossed (a- a- 6 + dia- dia- + ba- (s. of baínein to cross) + -tos verbal adj. suffix) + -ic; cf. diabatic

Related forms:
ad⋅i⋅a⋅bat⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ad·i·a·bat·ic   (ād'ē-ə-bāt'ĭk, ā'dī-ə-)   
adj.  Of, relating to, or being a reversible thermodynamic process that occurs without gain or loss of heat and without a change in entropy.

[From Greek adiabatos, impassable : a-, not; see a-1 + diabatos, passable (dia-, dia- + batos, passable from bainein, to go; see gwā- in Indo-European roots).]
ad'i·a·bat'i·cal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Adiabatic

Ad`i*a*bat"ic\, a. [Gr. ? not passable; 'a priv. + ? through + ? to go.] (Physics) Not giving out or receiving heat. -- Ad`i*a*bat`ic*al*ly, adv.

Adiabatic line or curve, a curve exhibiting the variations of pressure and volume of a fluid when it expands without either receiving or giving out heat. --Rankine.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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adiabatic   (ād'ē-ə-bāt'ĭk)  Pronunciation Key 
Occurring without gain or loss of heat. When a gas is compressed under adiabatic conditions, its pressure increases and its temperature rises without the gain or loss of any heat. Conversely, when a gas expands under adiabatic conditions, its pressure and temperature both decrease without the gain or loss of heat. The adiabatic cooling of air as it rises in the atmosphere is the main cause of cloud formation.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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