solution definition | Dictionary.com

so⋅lu⋅tion

[suh-loo-shuh

–noun

1.	the act of solving a problem, question, etc.: The situation is approaching solution.

2.	the state of being solved: a problem capable of solution.

3.	a particular instance or method of solving; an explanation or answer: The solution is as good as any other.

Mathematics.

a.	the process of determining the answer to a problem.

b.	the answer itself.

Chemistry.

a.	the process by which a gas, liquid, or solid is dispersed homogeneously in a gas, liquid, or solid without chemical change.

b.	such a substance, as dissolved sugar or salt in solution.

c.	a homogeneous, molecular mixture of two or more substances.

6.	Pharmacology. Also called liquor. a liquid, usually water, in which a medication is dissolved.

Medicine/Medical.

a.	the termination of a disease.

b.	a breach or break in anything, esp. one in parts of the body normally continuous, as from fracture or laceration: solution of continuity.

Origin:
1325–75; ME < L solūtiōn- (s. of solūtiō), equiv. to solūt(us) (see solute ) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms:

so⋅lu⋅tion⋅al, adjective

Synonyms:
3. key, resolution.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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so·lu·tion (sə-lōō'shən)

1. A homogeneous mixture of two or more substances, which may be solids, liquids, gases, or a combination of these.
2. The process of forming such a mixture.
3. The method or process of solving a problem.
4. The answer to or disposition of a problem.
The state of being dissolved.
1. The method or process of solving a problem.
2. The answer to or disposition of a problem.
Law Payment or satisfaction of a claim or debt.
The act of separating or breaking up; dissolution.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin solūtiō, solūtiōn-, from solūtus, past participle of solvere, to loosen; see solute.]

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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Solution

So*lu"tion\ (s[-o]*l[=u]"sh[u^]n), n. [OE. solucion, OF. solucion, F. solution, fr. L. solutio, fr. solvere, solutum, to loosen, dissolve. See Solve.]

1. The act of separating the parts of any body, or the condition of undergoing a separation of parts; disruption; breach.

In all bodies there is an appetite of union and evitation of solution of continuity. --Bacon.

2. The act of solving, or the state of being solved; the disentanglement of any intricate problem or difficult question; explanation; clearing up; -- used especially in mathematics, either of the process of solving an equation or problem, or the result of the process.

3. The state of being dissolved or disintegrated; resolution; disintegration.

It is unquestionably an enterprise of more promise to assail the nations in their hour of faintness and solution, than at a time when magnificent and seductive systems of worship were at their height of energy and splendor. --I. Taylor.

4. (Chem.Phys.) The act or process by which a body (whether solid, liquid, or gaseous) is absorbed into a liquid, and, remaining or becoming fluid, is diffused throughout the solvent; also, the product reulting from such absorption.

Note: When a solvent will not take in any more of a substance the solution is said to be saturated. Solution is two kinds; viz.: (a) Mechanical solution, in which no marked chemical change takes place, and in which, in the case of solids, the dissolved body can be regained by evaporation, as in the solution of salt or sugar in water. (b) Chemical solution, in which there is involved a decided chemical change, as when limestone or zinc undergoes solution in hydrochloric acid. Mechanical solution is regarded as a form of molecular or atomic attraction, and is probably occasioned by the formation of certain very weak and unstable compounds which are easily dissociated and pass into new and similar compounds.

Note: This word is not used in chemistry or mineralogy for fusion, or the melting of bodies by the heat of fire.

5. release; deliverance; discharge. [Obs.] --Barrow.

6. (Med.) (a) The termination of a disease; resolution. (b) A crisis. (c) A liquid medicine or preparation (usually aqueous) in which the solid ingredients are wholly soluble. --U. S. Disp.

Fehling's solution (Chem.), a standardized solution of cupric hydrate in sodium potassium tartrate, used as a means of determining the reducing power of certain sugars and sirups by the amount of red cuprous oxide thrown down.

Heavy solution (Min.), a liquid of high density, as a solution of mercuric iodide in potassium iodide (called the Sonstadt or Thoulet solution) having a maximum specific gravity of 3.2, or of borotungstate of cadium (Klein solution, specific gravity 3.6), and the like. Such solutions are much used in determining the specific gravities of minerals, and in separating them when mechanically mixed as in a pulverized rock.

Nessler's solution. See Nesslerize.

Solution of continuity, the separation of connection, or of connected substances or parts; -- applied, in surgery, to a fracture, laceration, or the like. "As in the natural body a wound, or solution of continuity, is worse than a corrupt humor, so in the spiritual." --Bacon.

Standardized solution (Chem.), a solution which is used as a reagent, and is of a known and standard strength; specifically, a normal solution, containing in each cubic centimeter as many milligrams of the element in question as the number representing its atomic weight; thus, a normal solution of silver nitrate would contain 107.7 mgr. of silver nitrate in each cubic centimeter.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : solution

Spanish: solución,

German: die Lösung,

Japanese: 解答

More Translations »

solution

In chemistry, a uniform mixture of one solid, liquid, or gas with another solid, liquid, or gas.

solution

1375, "a solving or being solved," from O.Fr. solucion, from L. solutionem (nom. solutio) "a loosening or unfastening," also "a solving," from pp. stem of solvere "to loosen, untie, solve, dissolve" (see solve). Meaning "liquid containing a dissolved substance" is first recorded 1594.

Main Entry: so·lu·tion
Pronunciation: s&-'lü-sh&n
Function: noun
1 a : an act or the process by which a solid, liquid, orgaseous substance is homogeneously mixed with a liquid or sometimes a gas or solid called also dissolution b : a homogeneous mixture formed by this process
2 a : a liquid containing a dissolved substance solution> b : a liquid and usually aqueous medicinal preparation with the solid ingredients soluble c : the condition of being dissolved solution>

solution so·lu·tion (sə-l&oomacr;'shən)
n.
Abbr. sol., soln.

A homogeneous mixture of two or more substances, which may be solids, liquids, gases, or a combination of these.
The state of being dissolved.
In pharmacology, a liquid preparation containing a solute, especially an aqueous solution of a nonvolatile substance.
Termination of a disease by a crisis.
A break, cut, or laceration of the solid tissues.

solution (sə-l

'shən) Pronunciation Key

Chemistry A mixture in which particles of one or more substances (the solute) are distributed uniformly throughout another substance (the solvent), so that the mixture is homogeneous at the molecular or ionic level. The particles in a solution are smaller than those in either a colloid or a suspension. Compare colloid , suspension.
Mathematics A value or values which, when substituted for a variable in an equation, make the equation true. For example, the solutions to the equation x² = 4 are 2 and -2.

solution jargon
A marketroid term for something he wants to sell you without bothering you with the often dizzying distinctions between hardware, software, services, applications, file formats, companies, brand names and operating systems.
"Flash is a perfect image-streaming solution." "What is it?" "Um... about a thousand dollars."
See also: technology.
(1998-07-07)

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