noun
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the act of exuding or oozing out
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Also called: exudate. a fluid with a high content of protein in a body cavity Compare transudate
Other Word Forms
- exudative adjective
- unexudative adjective
Etymology
Origin of exudation
1605–15; < Late Latin ex ( s ) ūdātiōn- (stem of ex ( s ) ūdātiō ), equivalent to ex ( s ) ūdāt ( us ) (past participle of ex ( s ) ūdāre to exude ) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Those unpleasant stains around your armpits — that's an exudation, dude — the release of a bodily liquid through your skin. In general an exudation is pretty smelly stuff: sweat, oil and various other discharges we can't mention on a family site. Plants and animals create their own exudations too. Funnily enough, while the noun exudation almost always refers to a physical discharge of fluid, the verb, to exude has a far more figurative meaning. Sure, you can exude bad smells or liquids, but you can also exude good will, bonhomie, love and just about any other emotion you can think of.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Why else did an atramental cloud of controversy settle over the struggle, political cuttlefish and squid belch their inky exudation over the contest?
From Time Magazine Archive
In severe burns, the body loses large amounts of nitrogen, in the urine and by exudation from the burned body surface.
From Time Magazine Archive
Sometimes infection inflames the lining of a pleural cavity, causes an exudation which fills the cavity and leaves no space for the lung to expand.
From Time Magazine Archive
The germ induces in the lungs, in lobar pneumonia especially, a copious exudation of protective serum.
From Time Magazine Archive
In croup there may be a swollen mucous membrane, with a slight superficial mucous exudation, or a more abundant exudation of desquamated epithelium and mucus, as well as a fibrinous false membrane.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
