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Absorbent vs Waterproof - What's the difference?

absorbent | waterproof |

As adjectives the difference between absorbent and waterproof

is that absorbent is having the ability or tendency to absorb; able to soak up liquid easily; absorptive while waterproof is unaffected by water.

As nouns the difference between absorbent and waterproof

is that absorbent is anything which absorbs while waterproof is a substance or preparation for rendering cloth, leather, etc., impervious to water.

As a verb waterproof is

to make waterproof or water-resistant.

absorbent

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having the ability or tendency to absorb; able to soak up liquid easily; absorptive.
    • Those paper towels were amazingly absorbent . That was quite a spill.

    Derived terms

    * absorbent ground * nonabsorbent

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Anything which absorbs.
  • * 1839 , , 1972, Forgotten Books, page 225,
    • In the Southern Ocean the winter is not so excessively cold, but the summer is far less hot, for the clouded sky seldom allows the sun to warm the ocean, itself a bad absorbent of heat: and hence the mean temperature of the year is low.
  • (physiology, pluralized, now, rare) The vessels by which the processes of absorption are carried on, as the lymphatics in animals, the extremities of the roots in plants.
  • (medicine) Any substance which absorbs and neutralizes acid fluid in the stomach and bowels, as magnesia, chalk, etc.; also a substance, e.g., iodine, which acts on the absorbent vessels so as to reduce enlarged and indurated parts.
  • (chemistry) A liquid used in the process of separating gases or volatile liquids, in oil refining.

    • References

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    waterproof

    English

    (wikipedia waterproof)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Unaffected by water.
  • Made of or covered with material that doesn't allow water in.
  • Incapable of failing; unassailable.
  • * 1931 , The British Clay Worker
    • The only waterproof plan and the one increasingly adopted by leading trades is the consolidation of the interests of all parties in a scheme of amalgamation.
  • * 2001 , W. A. M. van Dijk, J. L. Hovens, Netherlands. Koninklijke Marechaussee, Arresting war criminals
    • Especially within an international framework, guarding this process is of the utmost importance. The eyes of the world are focussed on the action at hand and demand a waterproof plan and execution.
  • * 2013 , Barry Davies, Soldier of Fortune Guide to How to Disappear and Never Be Found , Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. (ISBN 9781626365216)
    • Unless you have a 100 percent waterproof plan to defraud insurance companies, I would suggest you don&
  • 39;t do it.

    • See also

    * watertight

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make waterproof or water-resistant.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).}}

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A substance or preparation for rendering cloth, leather, etc., impervious to water.
  • Cloth made waterproof, or any article made of such cloth, or of other waterproof material, as rubber; especially, an outer garment made of such material.
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