This week’s theme
What’s a letter here or there between friends?

This week’s words
connate
sorb
ramble
fardel
maunder

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(sorb)

MEANING:

verb intr.:
1. To take up and hold by absorption.
2. To take up and hold by adsorption.

NOTES:

So what’s the difference between absorption and adsorption, besides a turned-around letter b? Absorption is when a substance is completely assimilated by another while in adsorption the substance deposits on the surface of another.

ETYMOLOGY:

Back-formation from absorb, from Latin absorbere, from ab- (away) + sorbere (to suck). Earliest documented use: 1909.

USAGE:

“Nitrate is an anion and is not attracted to or sorbed by soil particles.”
Philippe Quevauviller, et al; Wastewater Quality Monitoring and Treatment; Wiley; 2006.

See more usage examples of sorb in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: