VOLATILE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Volatile

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/vˈɑlətəl/ Listen

adjective

Volatile adj.

1.

Passing through the air on wings, or by the buoyant force of the atmosphere; flying; having the power to fly. (Obs.)

2.

Capable of wasting away, or of easily passing into the aeriform state; subject to evaporation. Note: Substances which affect the smell with pungent or fragrant odors, as musk, hartshorn, and essential oils, are called volatile substances, because they waste away on exposure to the atmosphere. Alcohol and ether are called volatile liquids for a similar reason, and because they easily pass into the state of vapor on the application of heat. On the contrary, gold is a fixed substance, because it does not suffer waste, even when exposed to the heat of a furnace; and oils are called fixed when they do not evaporate on simple exposure to the atmosphere.

3.

Fig.: Light-hearted; easily affected by circumstances; airy; lively; hence, changeable; fickle; as, a volatile temper. "You are as giddy and volatile as ever."

Volatile alkali. (Old Chem.) See under Alkali.

Volatile liniment, a liniment composed of sweet oil and ammonia, so called from the readiness with which the latter evaporates.

Volatile oils. (Chem.) See Essential oils, under Essential.

noun

Volatile n. A winged animal; wild fowl; game. (Obs.)

See images of 'Volatile'

Etymology of 'Volatile'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Volatile" Quotes from Famous Books

... was sure the volatile American would give me no peace until I had done so; and then, having looked up, I promptly forgot the ...

— The House by the Lock • C. N. Williamson

... been exposed to the charms of many women, and his special interest in Phillida amounted only to a lively curiosity. Always susceptible to the charm of a woman's presence, this susceptibility had been acted on from so many sides as to make his interest in women superficial and volatile. The man who is too much interested in women to be specially interested in a woman is pretty sure not to marry at all, or to ...

— The Faith Doctor - A Story of New York • Edward Eggleston

... turning to me, "this is the boot-room, where you will have to put on and take off your boots whenever you go out or come in. This boy is going out, and will take you into the playground with him," and away she went, leaving me in the hands of the volatile Flanagan. ...

— My Friend Smith - A Story of School and City Life • Talbot Baines Reed

... knowing all the village people, and takes the children with her, so that they really know the village-folk all round; they are certainly tremendously happy and interested in everything. Of course they are volatile in their tastes, but I rather encourage that. I know that in the little old moral books the idea was that nothing should be taken up by children, unless it was done thoroughly and perseveringly; but I had rather that they had a wide experience; the time to select and settle down upon a ...

— The Altar Fire • Arthur Christopher Benson

... stations and industrial plants and from trucks transiting Austria between northern and southern Europe natural hazards: NA international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands; signed, ...

— The 1995 CIA World Factbook • United States Central Intelligence Agency

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