expellant

or ex·pel·lent

[ ik-spel-uhnt ]

adjective

1. expelling, or having the power to expel.

expellant

/ ɪkˈspɛlənt /

adjective

1. forcing out or having the capacity to force out

noun

1. a medicine used to expel undesirable substances or organisms from the body, esp worms from the digestive tract

Word History and Origins

Origin of expellant¹

1815–25; variant of expellent ( -ant ) < Latin expellent- (stem of expellēns ), present participle of expellere to expel; -ent

Example Sentences

One late sixteenth-century commentator on America recommended it as a purge for superfluous phlegm; and smokers believed it functioned as an antidote for poisons, as an expellant for "sour" humors, and as a healer of wounds.

From Project Gutenberg

Into willing Mussulman ears he poured a tirade of abuse, typical of the epoch and the nation he represented: ... proh si scires quam morbosum, quam pestiferum; quamque contagiosum pecus istud de quo loqueris sit, tactu omnia fedant, visu corrumpunt sermone destruunt, divina et humana preturbant, inficiunt, prostrant miseros vicinos circumveniunt, radicitus expellant, funestant; ubicumque pecunias esse presentiunt, tamquam odori canes insequunt; detegunt, effundiunt, per mendacia, perjuria, dolos insidias per litas, si catera non seppelunt, extorquere illas laborant: aliena miseria, dolore, gemitu, mestitia gaudent.

From Project Gutenberg