Volatile vs Vapour - What's the difference?
volatile | vapour |
(physics) evaporating or vaporizing readily under normal conditions.
(of a substance, informal) explosive.
(of a price etc) variable or erratic.
(of a person) quick to become angry or violent.
fickle.
temporary or ephemeral.
(of a situation) potentially violent.
(computing, of a variable) having its associated memory immediately updated with any changes in value.
(computing, of memory) whose content is lost when the computer is powered down
(obsolete) Passing through the air on wings, or by the buoyant force of the atmosphere; flying; having the power to fly.
Cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.
*{{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
, chapter=5, title= The gaseous state of a substance that is normally a solid or liquid.
(label) Wind; flatulence.
Something unsubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting.
* Bible, (w) iv. 14
(label) Hypochondria; melancholy; the blues; hysteria, or other nervous disorder.
* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
(label) Any medicinal agent designed for administration in the form of inhaled vapour.
To become vapour; to be emitted or circulated as vapour.
To turn into vapour.
* Ben Jonson
To use insubstantial language; to boast or bluster.
* 1888 , (Rudyard Kipling), ‘The Bisara of Pooree’, Plain Tales from the Hills , Folio Society 2005, p. 172:
* 1904 , , ‘Reginald's Christmas Revel’, Reginald :
* 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia'', Faber & Faber 1992 (''Avignon Quintet ), p. 513:
To emit vapour or fumes.
* Francis Bacon
To become vapour; to be emitted or circulated as vapour.
To turn into vapour.
To use insubstantial language; to boast or bluster.
* 1888 , (Rudyard Kipling), ‘The Bisara of Pooree’, Plain Tales from the Hills , Folio Society 2005, p. 172:
* 1904 , , ‘Reginald's Christmas Revel’, Reginald :
* 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia , Faber
British English forms
As an adjective volatile
is (physics) evaporating or vaporizing readily under normal conditions.As a noun vapour is
cloudy diffused matter such as mist, steam or fumes suspended in the air.As a verb vapour is
to become vapour; to be emitted or circulated as vapour or vapour can be to become vapour; to be emitted or circulated as vapour.volatile
English
(wikipedia volatile)Adjective
(en adjective)Synonyms
* See alsoDerived terms
* volatility * volatile memoryvapour
English
Alternative forms
* vapor (US)Noun
The Lonely Pyramid, passage=The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.
- (Francis Bacon)
- For what is your life? It is even a vapour , that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
- a fit of vapours
Derived terms
* vapour pressure * vapour trail * water vapourSee also
* dew pointVerb
(en verb)- to vapour away a heated fluid
- He'd laugh to see one throw his heart away, / Another, sighing, vapour forth his soul.
- He vapoured , and fretted, and fumed, and trotted up and down, and tried to make himself pleasing in Miss Hollis's big, quiet, grey eyes, and failed.
- then the Major gave us a graphic account of a struggle he had with a wounded bear. I privately wished that the bears would win sometimes on these occasions; at least they wouldn't go vapouring about it afterwards.
- He felt he would start vapouring with devotion if this went on, so he bruptly took his leave with a cold expression on his face which dismayed her for she thought that it was due to distain for her artistic opinions.
- Running waters vapour not so much as standing waters.
Verb
(en verb)- He vapoured , and fretted, and fumed, and trotted up and down, and tried to make himself pleasing in Miss Hollis's big, quiet, grey eyes, and failed.
- then the Major gave us a graphic account of a struggle he had with a wounded bear. I privately wished that the bears would win sometimes on these occasions; at least they wouldn't go vapouring about it afterwards.